Persona 3: Left hand of Death
by Jukofux
Summary: AU My female OC and the standard Minako, two Foolish Wildcards, going to keep it on my OC Lyn, except maybe for reaction shots, Reviews and Pointers always welcome!
1. Chapter 1

A/N Uhh… Hi there, this will be my first attempt at Fanfiction so please be gentle with me. I've only learned of the Persona series recently and have quickly fallen in love with it, Persona 3 specifically. Probably wouldn't even be attempting this were it not for the stories here. Oh well here we go!

Well here I am, going back 'home' to Tatsumi Port Island. It's been nearly ten years since I was here last, and It wasn't a very happy goodbye then either, there was this huge explosion on the Moonlight Bridge and a lot of people died, my parents included, at least that's what the News reports said.

_I remember though. _

First thing I remember is the car stopping suddenly, when I asked my parents what was wrong they didn't answer, fearing, no, knowing something was wrong I looked at the front seat of the car, didn't see my parents, just two coffins in their seats. I was almost able to fool my self into thinking that I was having a nightmare…I wasn't.

Next there was this metallic…scream and another car landed right in front of the one I was in. I got out of our car and started running, to where I didn't know, I just knew I had to get away. As I was running I started noticing other things that were odd, for one the moon was HUGE and a sickly yellow as well, the sky and ground were various shades of green and there were puddles of blood everywhere! The ocean was also blood, when I saw that I stumbled and tripped. I twisted my ankle or something when I fell cause I could barely stand afterward, looking around all the cars that were on the bridge were stopped and had coffins in them as well.

I started to hear sobbing, the first sound I had heard that wasn't myself or whatever it was that I was running from, taking a chance I called out hoping that I wasn't the only one here. "H-hey is anyone there?" In a few moments I girl my age with reddish brown hair came around a car a little behind me with a scared look on her face that probably mirrored my own. "Do y-you know what's going on here?" She asked while inching closer to me, I could only shake my head wincing when I put to much weight on my foot. She seemed to notice this and immediately all traces of fear left her face and ran over to me and started asking where it hurt and what happened and such, she was talking so fast I barely understood her.

Just when I was about to ask her to help me walk there was another metal scream and another car fell near us…It landed on the car that the girl had been hiding near, she looked back and started whispering "Mommy?…D-daddy?" She then grabbed onto me and started sobbing, I could only stare at the wreckage, I recognized the car that had fallen onto her parents car…it was mine. Silent tears began to fall from my eyes.

I starting hearing other sounds, metal striking metal, gunshots. When I looked back the way I had run from There was this big black…thing, don't know how else to describe it, it was easily ten feet tall, humanoid body and had a big-ass sword. It/he(?) was fighting with this blond girl who looked like she was in high school. The big thing started swinging at her with his sword but the girl was too quick for him, instead his strike hit another car and sent it flying back away from them and us. I was frozen in place my arms around this girl I didn't know, both of our parents probably dead, watching a fight…I blacked out.

When I came to the redheaded girl was shaking me awake screaming at me to get up. I looked behind her and saw the giant throw the blond girl behind us, he started walking towards us, rearing back for another strike with his sword. I tried to push the girl away from me and him, got her away just in time for her to be missed… I wasn't so lucky, as I pushed her away from his sword's slash I didn't get out of the way completely. My left arm was cut off, right at the elbow, I watched in horrid fascination as it flew through the air, he was watching it as well, he reached out and caught it with his other hand and…and ate it. Then I started to feel the pain, searing, scorching pain was shooting up my arm, the redhead started hugging me again apologizing over and over. I could feel myself blacking out again the last words I heard were a monotone "Two vessels present for the sealing process…commencing!" Looked back and saw the blond missing an arm, I found this funny, there was an incredibly bright light, then I blacked out, laughing.

Woke up in a hospital, everything was fuzzy when I looked around, I started blinking and rubbing my eyes, I guess this caught the attention of a nurse nearby, probably waiting for me to wake up, I was very confused for a couple of reasons; one, I was alive. Two, I was rubbing my eyes with two arms, well one arm and something heavy on my left arm. Three was what the nurse said. "Oh don't do that dear, it won't help your vision, there was an accident last night and you were in it" Accident? The giant guy? "You must have been near a fire…I'm sorry dear but your eyes were damaged, you were blinded." What? I decided to ask some questions. "But my eyes were just a bit blurry I can see fine now. What did you mean? It's not funny."

That caught her off guard, I finally got a good look at her, black hair tied in a short ponytail, normal nurse outfit, completely horrified look on her face. "U-umm why are you looking at me like that?" Oh right my arm! It was in a cast…and I could feel it, but didn't the giant cut it off and eat it? The nurse handed me a mirror so I could look at my face, I couldn't see what the fuss was about just a couple bandaged cuts and some bruises, then I finally looked at my eyes, completely white, no iris', no pupils. "W-what!" quick turn to face the nurse from my bed again. "What's going on? Why are my eyes like this? What happened to my arm?"

The nurse seemed to catch herself and started talking "There was an accident last night and…and a lot of people died, we were able to identify the bodies, I'm sorry but your parents were among the dead, we… thought that your eyes were blinded because of their current condition but you proved us wrong, and as for your arm…it was hurt in the accident and was broken and cut in multiple places it will be a while before you can take off the cast, if ever…I'm sorry. Umm do you know anyone that we can call to take care of you when you get out of the hospital?" I thought for a moment "There's only my uncle…but he lives in Canada, can I use the phone to call him? I'm really good with numbers, so I can remember his number."

It actually took me a minute to remember his area code, looking around for a clock and saw that it was 23h12 so then it would be…10h12 thereabouts, ok ringing ringing. "Hello?" Oh right English umm "H-hi uncle Tyler? I-it's Lyn your niece…" "Oh hi Lyn how's it going? Isn't it a bit late for you to be up? Where is Tommy and your mom?" I started sniffling and crying a bit "T-there was a-an accident mommy and daddy they…they died last night a-and you are the only relative that I know, mommy was an only child and grandpa and grandma died before I was born…" There was silence as he absorbed the news "A-ah I, uh, I see I think that I can be there in a couple of days, where are you?"

I turned back to the nurse "Umm can I get directions from the train station to here?" she was about to take the phone so I had to ask "Do you know English? Because uncle doesn't speak Japanese at all." Quickly her hand was withdrawn and she began to list off the directions slowly so I could translate them for uncle Tyler. "Alright I'll be there in a couple of days, don't worry I'll be there soon, bye Lyn." "He said that he'd be here in a couple of days, is that alright nurse-san?" the nurse nodded and I remembered something "Umm nurse-san? Was there another girl brought here? Reddish brown hair, around my age?" She put her finger to her cheek as if in thought for a moment "Oh! You must mean Mina-chan! She's in the room next to yours, do you know her?" I nodded, what could I tell her? What really happened last night? "Alright then let's go visit her!" I follow the suddenly cheerful nurse down the hall, we pass by a clock on the wall and I notice that its almost midnight, a sudden pang of fear shot up my spine, I don't know why though.

When we got to the door the nurse knocked and a very quiet "Y-yes?" was heard. "Mina-chan? Is Nurse Sayoko may I come in?" "O-ok!" When we entered I couldn't see anyone at first then I say her red hair next to the bed, I guess she was hiding again, when she saw me she jumped over the bed and tackled me in one move "!" "Please get off, my arm hurts, not that I'm angry with you thought!" She turned a brilliant shade of red, almost matched her eyes which I just now notice are a deep red, odd, but then again who am I to talk now? She looked down at my cast then back at my face "Wait arm? But wasn't it c-" I shushed her and pointed at Sayoko, Mina-chan nodded, then the world turned green. Only thing I could think of was one word that I remember hearing when sneaking a peek at a movie mom and dad were watching one time.

"Fuck"

I immediately clapped my hand over my mouth, realizing what I had just said and looked back to where Sayoko was to apologize, but there was no Sayoko just a coffin, I gasped and turned to Mina-chan for comfort, no Mina-chan, just a smaller coffin. I fell to my knees and started crying, wondering why this was happening to me, my encased arm started throbbing. I must have cried myself to sleep because the next thing I knew I was flying down a checkered hallway towards a blue door, it must be a dream, I've dreamt of flying before. When I flew _through _the door I was in a blue room, no it was an elevator? We were moving upwards. There was a couple of chairs a table and two people with me, a old man with a long nose that reminded me of Pinocchio with a big grin and bloodshot eyes, and a woman who looked like she was around twenty, she had pale skin, pale hair that almost matched her skin and yellow eyes. The man started to speak.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young lady. My name is Igor…I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This is Elizabeth, she's a resident here, like myself." His voice is…breathy? Like he is too excited to see me or something, the woman, Elizabeth I guess, began to speak "Pleased to meet you" "Umm nice to meet you Igor-san, Elizabeth-san, I'm Lyn Relis." Oh Igor wants my attention again "This place exists between mind and matter, dreams and reality…. It's been _years_ since we've had a guest. Only those who have signed or will be able to sign a contract are able to enter here." I was really confused, I looked from Igor to Elizabeth "W-what's happening, isn't this a dream? What's going on?" Igor looked to Elizabeth then back to me "Ah it seems that you came here before you were supposed to, I believe that it has something to do with your eyes and arm."

I looked down at my arm, hoping to see the cast still there, no there was no cast, nor was their a broken and cut up arm, no what was their was much worse, starting at my elbow my arm was black, the deepest black you can imagine, the skin wasn't normal either it looked like it was scaled…or maybe something like snakeskin? It didn't feel like my arm anymore and the hand…the hand had smaller scales, to allow flexibility I guess, the fingers looked normal for the first two segments, the first for the thumb, but the final part of my digits were long talons, claws or something. I looked back at Igor with fear and panic he sensed this or read it in my face, he began to…comfort? No Inform me of what had happened.

"Your arm was indeed severed last night, and the final blast did burn out your vision, you now have something inside you, that something has given you it's arm and it letting you see, I cannot tell you what it is but you will find out in due time." "But, uhh, Igor-san what about Mina-chan? She was there last night too, why is she a coffin tonight?" "You must understand child, you were near death last night and as such your power is much more awakened than your friends, as you needed that power to live." "Umm ok Igor-san, but doesn't that mean that she will come out of her coffin eventually?" Igor's smile grew wider, it almost looked painful "Hmhmhmhmhm why, yes it does, and aren't you a clever child to catch my slip of the tongue?" It will be years before it becomes necessary for her to awaken, now as a reward for your quick mind take this." He holds out his hand palm up and a card appears above it and begins to rotate on one of its corners.

Remembering my manners I thank Igor before asking "What is this? If I may ask" "That my dear guest is your Persona!" seeing my confused face he continues "A persona is a manifestation of your psyche" Again confusion. "Persona? Psyche? I don't understand Igor-san!" He widens his smile even further, how? "It may take some time to fully understand, you can think of it as a…mask that protects you as you brave many hardships, you will come to understand, in time." I…think I get it "Ok Igor-san thank you for trying to explain things to me, thank you as well Elizabeth" She merely nods but Igor "Think nothing of it, now Time marches onward in your world!" He waves and everything fades to white.

Once again I wake up in my bed in the hospital but Sayoko wasn't there this time, instead there was a very big man with a huge beard, once I saw that beard I knew who it was immediately "Uncle Tyler! You really came! Isn't it to soon for you to be here though?" I could barely move my arms, my body felt so heavy "Early? Lyn it's February 17th, it's been a week since you called me, the doctors say that you fainted and that you haven't woken up since" He looked at my face and his eyes widen in shock "Wow the doctor was telling the truth your eyes are white…I thought that it was something that was lost in translation, only one guy seemed to be somewhat fluent in English."

"Wha- a week? Uncle I'm sorry if I worried you, umm, what's going to happen?" "Well your, uh, your parents' funeral is today actually I was just checking on you before going myself, if you feel up to it you can come to, I think that they told be that it was going to be monk Mutatsu who will be presiding over it, he was a friend of your mothers right?" I thought for a moment Mutatsu…Oh! "You mean bulldog! Yes I know him, and…yes I would like to come, do you know if they have any of my clothes here?" He points to a small suitcase near the bed and leaves the room so I can have some privacy, I manage to get a dress on over my cast eventually, every time I look at it I remember the black talons and shiver. When I finish getting dressed nurse Sayoko came in without my uncle, I look over to her and ask a couple questions "Umm nurse Sayoko? Is Mina-chan still here?" "No, she isn't, her relatives came and took her away, she was crying that she didn't get to talk to you again…" "Oh, that's to bad, umm n-nurse? M-my arm…isn't really broken is it? It isn't normal anymore right?" I look at her tears starting to gather in my eyes "No, no it isn't normal, the doctors don't know what happened so they decided to lie to you and hope that you had moved away before taking off the cast!" Wow she sounds angry I guess she didn't agree with the decision.

"I, uh, I see thank you nurse Sayoko, for all your help." I bow and exit the room. I find uncle Tyler at the front desk staring at the form to discharge me, I go up to him and take the form and fill it out, had it back to the nurse on duty who is staring at my uncle, mainly my uncles beard, everyone stares at his beard, it's an awesome beard. "Uncle your scaring the nurse with your beard, lets go…I don't want to be late." He nods and takes my suitcase, he has a taxi waiting for us, we head to the shine, we are some of the first to arrive so I head over to Bulld- I mean monk Mutatsu, I call him that because his cheeks sag and his face looks like a bulldog's, he sees us and comes over kneels down and gives me a hug, this surprises me, Mutatsu never gives hugs. "I'm so very sorry Lyn-chan, your parents did not deserve this. What can I do, what _should_ I do? Tommy and Ayane were two of my closest friends…where will you go, do you have any relatives?" I point to Uncle Tyler " A-ah yes, this is my Uncle Tyler Relis, he will be looking after me, unfortunately he lives in Canada and doesn't speak any Japanese so I will be moving to Canada I expect." I could feel the old monk freeze when he heard this, he stood up and looked over to uncle Tyler, then up, uncle is really tall six foot two I think I remember dad saying.

Mutatsu is probably judging uncle on his appearance, he just sees a giant, thin man wearing a black turtleneck sweater, black dress pants with matching shoes, aviator sunglasses, shoulder length blond hair, like my own, and a great big bushy beard that almost reaches his stomach. What happened next surprised me Mutatsu began speaking to my uncle in fragmented broken English "You…take care her…or hunt and hurt!" Uncle Tyler was taken aback by this and could only bow and offer a quick "H-hai!" I think that is the extent of his Japanese. But Mutatsu accepted this and began to assend the stairs leading to the shrine, normally it would be the monk of this shrine performing the ceremony but Mutatsu wasn't having any of that and nearly stepped on the monk of this shrine's puppy, I handed my suitcase to uncle and ran over to see if the puppy was ok.

He was, fortunately, the monk came over and told me that the puppy's name was 'Koromaru', Koromaru was a very pretty white Shiba-Inu with happy, red eyes. I scratched behind his ears before the monk picked him up and walked away while muttering something about Mutatsu and booze.

The ceremony was a small one, just my parents friends and a few co-workers, realizing what would happen my uncle gave my his sunglasses and told me "Put them on, it will stop them from staring at your eyes and let you pay attention" I nodded my thanks and put them on. After the funeral was over I said goodbye to Mutatsu "Goodbye Bulldog-san! Be nice to your son ok! I….I hope that we meet again someday!" Mutatsu just waved and wiped away a tear. "So, uncle, shall we get going?" He nods and we head to the hotel where he had been staying this past week, it was on a street that I had never gone to with my parents before, the street was called 'Shirakawa Boulevard' uncle got a lot of stares and fingers pointed at him as we walked up to his hotel, the man behind the desk was very short, fat and oily, he looked up as we came in and _leered_ at us, and welcomed my uncle back in broken English. Uncle turned to me and asked me to stay here and tell the oily guy that he was checking out while he went and got his stuff. "Ok uncle but please be quick I don't like the way he's looking at me" He nods and heads for the stairs, I walk up to the desk. "U-um excuse me mister? My Uncle Tyler Relis would like to check out now… he should be down soon."

And the Oily looked down at me and whispered "Oh, that's too bad, I was looking forward to you staying here with us…" Wow that was creepy where's uncle, oh there he is, he and Oily talk for a bit, I don't really pay attention, I was getting really tired, my uncle noticed and picked me up and carried me outside, getting even more stares and pointing fingers, he walks to a nearby payphone and calls a cab, I must've fallen asleep again cause when I opened my eyes again we were pulling up to the airport, he grabbed our suitcases from the trunk and we headed inside to our flight, and my new life.

We were on the plane and our flight had just levelled off when I looked at my uncles watch, it was almost midnight, I knew what was coming, suddenly dry mouthed I took the little paper cup that came with my in-flight orange juice and headed to the bathroom to get some water, I had just gotten my cup filled when Coffin Time kicked in, looking around the tiny bathroom which was now tinted green I took a sip of my water, it tasted like iron, I looked at my cup and it was full of blood, I drop my cup and spit into the sink, more blood, I begin to feel nauseous and lift the seat so I can throw up, when I do, more freaking blood! The smell is overpowering in here, I leave and start heading back to my seat in the now coffin-filled frozen airplane.

Just when I was about to swing into my seat I hear this…squishing from behind me, I quickly turn and see a black blob of goo with a blue mask with a I on the front of it, it's focused on me and heads towards me, I back up looking from side to side, looking for a place to hide, something, anything! I get a shot of Igor's smiling face and I remember the card…what did he call it….per-something. My left arm begins to throb in its cast again, what was it! Wait it was "**PERSONA!**" the spinning blue card appears again, without thinking I reach for it with my left hand when the cast touches it the card breaks with the sound of shattering glass, I have a moment of fear thinking that I had destroyed my own salvation when a loud female voice begins to boom in my head.

"**Thou Art I and I am Thou"**

"**From the Sea of Thy Soul I come forth"**

"**I am Atalanta, the Heavenly Huntress!"**

There was this…woman? Floating in front of me, her body was pure white, while her head was pure black, she had a simple sleeveless vest and pants that ended just after her knees both vest and pants looked like leather and were a deep blue color, she had solid red eyes and long light blond hair, she had a belt with a bunch of knives in it around her waist and a longer dagger at each hip, she looked back at me as if waiting for a signal…or command. "Atalanta, CLEAVE!" She took each of the daggers and did this cross slash thing at the blob, cutting it into four pieces, which dissolve, after which she dissipates too. I sigh, thinking that that was it, I hear the voice in my head again

"**Master it is too soon to be weary more of the fiends approach from the rear!"**

I swing around and see two more approaching, one behind the other, "PERSONA!" the card appears again and going on a hunch a swing through it with my cast, I hear glass breaking and Atalanta appears again, confirming my suspicion that I have to break the card to summon her. Suddenly I get a minds eye view of her abilities: ATALANTA- Fool

Weak: Agi, Light, Pierce Resist: Garu, Bufu, Strike

SKILLS: Cleave, Bash, Dia

Well then "Bash!"…eww, she raised both hands above her head grasped them together and smashed the first blob into the ground making it splatter everywhere…ok so she disappears between attacks and the blobs buddy is heading for me "Persona!" Card appears but blob is too close and slashes my right arm with its claws, damn that hurts, I smack it away with my cast and take a few steps back, damn didn't kill it…hmm…I wonder…"Persona!" card appears wait for it, Now! I raise my cast waiting for the blob to get close enough and smash through the card and into the blobs face/mask thing. Oh that killed it, and Atalanta is staring at me "uhh…Dia?" She raises her hand and a soothing green light envelopes me, the scratches on my arm are healing! Ok so file that away for later Dia equals healing. Atalanta disappears again and I am really tired, I get back into my seat and am about to fall asleep again when I hear her voice again.

"**You have done well for your first battle Master, I shall be vigilant whilst you rest, do not worry, I will be with you from now on."**

"Thanks Atalanta, I *yawn* think I will do that" Then I fell asleep again, if this keeps up uncle Tyler will think I'm narcoleptic or something.

"Hey, hey Lyn" Someone is shaking me, I know that voice "Mmn five more minutes uncle" "Lyn that was Japanese I have no idea what you said" Tricksy uncle making me wake up by thinking about translations "Ok I'm awake now uncle are we there?" I look past him out the window and I see night sky and ground, answered my own question **"Indeed"** "Eep! Atal-" **"In your mind, he cannot hear me, so speak in your mind, and I shall hear you"** Uncle was giving me a strange look "U-um my…arm was asleep and I got pins and needles going up it and it surprised me?" "Ah ok well, we landed so lets get going," "But its still dark out, it was a ten hour flight shouldn't it be nine in the morning?" "Oh I see what you mean, ya it's nine in the morning, in Japan that is, it's eight in the after noon here, or 20h00 to you." sudden dread, will that mean that I have to go through Coffin-time again today? "O-oh I see, thank you uncle, I forgot about time zones for a moment." And with that we left, uncle had his car in storage at the airport's garage so we didn't need a taxi but his town was two hours away from Ottawa where we landed.

The traffic was really bad for being in the middle of the night we finally pulled into his house at 23h45 err… 11:45 gotta get used to that. I looked at uncle's house it was pretty big, two stories, detached garage, looks like he's got a basement as well, the roof had gray shingles and the house was covered in yellow siding, he grabs our suitcases out of the back of his car and brings us to his front door, my new home. Nothing ended up happening at midnight, but I was kinda expecting nothing to happen, I had been thinking about the time zones and that would mean that Coffin-time would happen at 11:00 or 12:00 depending on this thing Canada has called Daylight Savings Time, it was odd but I could adjust, no, I had to adjust.

Uncle led me to the basement, apologizing along the way, saying that it was the only spare bedroom that he had. "It's ok uncle, you were kind enough to take me in, even traveling half the world to get me, any room would be sufficient" he's looking at me odd again "Um, Lyn? You really don't need to be that polite" Polite? Oh I think I see "My words are to proper and rigid correct?" He nods "This is not intentional, it is just the way I was taught, by my teachers, …dad…, and the dictionaries that they got so that I could translate for both of them" I smile at the memory of my father pleading with me to tell mother to stop hitting him with a skillet, a word he didn't know the translation for and she was making fun of him for "Stop hitting you with _what_ dear husband?" I couldn't translate for him cause I was laughing to hard.

Uncle nods and leaves me to get acquainted with my new room, the walls are a dark blue as are the bed sheets, the bed is parallel with the wall opposite the door there is a dresser wedged in the remaining space from the foot of the bed to the wall on the right. The wall on the right is taken up by a closet and a full length mirror, and there is a desk with a lamp along the right wall. So this is my room for the immediate future, I walk in front of the mirror and take off the Aviator sunglasses that uncle lent me, I had honestly forgotten about them until I saw them in the mirror, and placed them on top of the dresser. Looking into the mirror, pearly white orbs stare back at me…I used to have hazel eyes, the same shade as mother's, my blond hair from my father was the same, I still have some of the bandages on my face from the…accident a week ago, I begin tearing them off, finding no scars or cuts, I see tears begin to form at the edges of my eyes, I go over to the bed and collapse on it, sobbing into the pillow, thoughts of my eyes, my…arm, my home country, my parents and the red eyed girl I barely said a word to that I would probably never see again, all of the emotional turmoil that I had been keeping in poured out into the pillow, I begin to hear a song, a lullaby in my head…was Atalanta singing for me? ~thank you, Atalanta, it's beautiful~ I had no idea how I know what it means, I have never even heard this language before, maybe it was Atalanta giving me the translation.

"_**Rest your head to sleep... Rest your head to sleep.. I'm next to you to protect you... Like sweet precious flowers... I lay you down to sleep… the care is like a golden key… To sleep like a small bird… To wake up to sweet bird songs... If you sleep Mr North Wind.. If you sleep Mr North Wind.. He gives you a boat full of dreams…To help rock you to sleep with the soft ocean waves… He'll sing a lullaby… You'll sleep**__** and wake... Wake and grow…"**_

I fell asleep with tears pouring out of my eyes and a smile on my face. I awoke the next mourning to the smell of bacon and eggs…burning, seems like uncle doesn't know how to cook. I get changed, as I fell asleep in yesterdays clothes, put on uncles glasses, and head upstairs in hopes of rescuing breakfast, except uncle wasn't in the kitchen, there was a guy I didn't know, looked to be a little over twenty, around my uncles age frantically hopping around the kitchen, he's smaller than my uncle maybe five foot six short black hair and either heavily tanned or brown skin, he was wearing a pink tank top and jeans, he grabbed the bacon frying pan and yelped, looks like it's entirely metal and he didn't have a glove or cloth to grab it with. He's over by the sink now running his hand under water to help with the pain. Fearing for breakfast, I grab a cloth that is hanging on the oven's handle and move both skillets off of their respective burners. Looking around I see three plates nearby on the counter, I bring them over and divide the food, mainly to get them out of the still hot skillets to prevent more damage, but also because I hadn't eaten anything since the pretzels on the plane.

Mystery cook still hasn't noticed me, I turn off the burners and walk towards him. "Hello Cook-san? Are you alright? I removed the food from the oven I hope that's alright with you." He literally jumped when he heard my voice, he wiped around looking for the source of my voice, then looked down, I smiled at him "Do you know my uncle Tyler?" Realization appears in his eyes and says "O-oh you must be his niece Lyn, right? Thanks with the food I'm useless around the kitchen Tyler usually cooks but he is too tired from the trip last night to get up and cook for us. Oh! My name is Christopher Darrow, call me Chris! I'm Tyler's b-erm- f-friend, yes. Umm what did you call me? Cook-_san_? What does '-san' mean?" Oh right I can't keep slipping into Japanese like that "It means…Mister, or it's equivalent, and what were you going to call yourself related to my Oji-san…err uncle? Oh was it Boyfriend? Hehe" I couldn't help but giggle, dad had told me that uncle was gay but I guess he didn't tell him that he had told me. "Oh, haha, I guess you found me out huh, jeeze Tyler told me you were smart, but I didn't expect this level, shall we eat then? Before it gets cold?" I nod and we take our plates and forks to the table in the next room over. He stares at me when I said "itadakimasu…oh right umm it's similar to saying grace sorry, habits and all that." He accepted this with a nod.

There's a rumbling coming down the stairs, Chris identifies it as Tyler waking up and coming down to eat, he looks tired when he retrieves his plate and comes in to join us, also surprised when he noticed me sitting across from Chris…hmm I wonder if either of them would get it if I called Chris 'Oba-san' hmm maybe later, or now hehehe. "Good morning uncle, I was just talking with Chris Oba-san here about his cooking skills." Alright so Chris doesn't know what that meant but uncle is looking at me, so I smile, which makes him shake his head and sit next to me, and stares at Chris…angrily? "Oh uncle he didn't tell me, it was Father who told me about your…preference there is nothing to be ashamed about, and I would have assuredly found out sooner or later, please do not be cross with Chris!" Huh so uncle can have surprise, embarrassment, relief and look apologetic all on his face at the same time. "Fine, but since you did call Chris your Oba-san don't you think it would be fair if you showed him your eyes, and told him what that meant?" Oh it seems I went to far…well this is his house and he will be looking after me, they both will maybe, I should obey. "A-alright uncle, if you say so, I'm sorry Chris I was joking at your expense Oba-san means Aunt and as for the other part of my punishment" I reach up shut my eyes and take off the glasses, turn towards Chris and "My vision is completely fine, my eyes on the other hand…" open my eyes and look into Chris' light blue ones see him gasp and cover his mouth, even if I was expecting that it still hurt, I cringe and Chris seems to pick up on that.

"Come on Tyler, look at the poor girl, the translation was one thing but making her show something she wasn't ready for me to see was completely out-of-line! Don't worry Lyn it just caught me by surprise is all" I put the glasses back on and smile at Chris "Thank you for understanding Chris" Chris looks at the glasses on my face and frowns "Nope! Those don't fit you at all you need something smaller than those things, hmm, oh I know! Tyler do you still have that Morpheus costume from last years Halloween party?" Uncle looks taken aback and stutters out "I uh I think s-so? Why what does that costume have to do with sun…glasses" Realization dawns on his face along with a huge smile "Oh I see, I will be right back!"

I finish eating while waiting for uncle to get back when I was washing my plate I looked over at the clock on the stove and nearly dropped the plate, 10:59, well time to see if my theory was right, it's weird the clock is digital but I can hear the second hand counting down; four, three, two, one, Coffin-Time, my hand which were just washing my plate feel sticky, I look down and it is covered it blood, I rush over to the sink and grab the drying towel and frantically rub my hand on it, I look over at the sink and it is filled with blood, I almost feel nauseous but I catch myself in time, at least until I opened the fridge, the bottle of apple juice? Blood, Coka-Cola? Blood, wait, tap the bottle, yep _carbonated_ blood, so wrong, and the bag of milk? Blood, ya they put milk in bags here, but in this Time they are bags of blood. Time for full blown nausea, I rush to the bathroom passing Chris' coffin and puke blood into the blood that was already in the toilet bowl. I suddenly felt the need for fresh air, I get outside and see that everything is green even the clouds, except for the blood puddles that had appeared wherever something has liquid before including the swimming pool that uncle's neighbor had…that was a lot of blood. "I wonder if I will develop a complex or something about this, any idea's Atalanta?" **"I do not know, perhaps you will grow accustomed to it"** "Hmm that may be worse, wonder how this will affect my school life, having this extra Time in the middle of the day?" **"Maybe it shall be a blessing in disguise? An chance to stretch your legs and begin your Hunt."** "Hunt? You mean those blob things? Wait Igor did say something about coming before I was supposed to, so I could use this time to get stronger, to help when the real time comes…yes thank you Atalanta." I swear I could _hear_ her smirk in my mind.

The Time eventually ended only a couple of the blobs where around nothing special happened, they never got near me, Atalanta took them out easily but the experience was enough for her to learn a new move called 'Bufu' she said that it was an ice attack so that's cool. And there is uncle still with that huge grin on his face. "Alright Lyn I will be taking back my Aviator's now" I nod and hand them to him he hands me these tiny black circles connected by a thin wire, very small sunglasses, yet they seem to be mirrored, I try them on and am assured by the both of them "They really suit you!" "Looking good Lyn!" I can feel my face heat up, then I remember something unpleasant. "Umm thank you for these, but…sorry Chris can I speak to Uncle alone for a bit? There is a private matter I need is opinion on." Chris looks a bit saddened but nods and heads upstairs, I nearly drag uncle to my room in the basement "What's this about Lyn? Do you not like them?" Quick shake of the head "No Uncle they will be fine, they are still larger than my eyes and fit close enough to my face that my eyes won't be seen from the sides, no I need to talk about my left arm. Are either you or Chris good with wood working or molding plastic?" At least it's him that's confused this time instead of me.

"Uh, well yes, Chris deals with *ahem* making plastic molds of…things, it's a bit of a home business" Alright back to confusion for me, but he has what I need "But I don't know what this has to do with your arm Lyn, isn't it pretty banged up?" I shake my head "It was never damaged to begin with, they put this cast on so that I wouldn't start asking questions at the hospital, and since it's Chris who has the tools I need, we should get him so that I need only explain once" He nods and says "Chris you can come in now, she wants you here apparently" I turn around and Chris opens the door with a sheepish look on his face. I sigh then continue with my story. " Well the night of the…accident my arm wasn't broke or cut up, it was cut off right at the elbow when I woke up at the hospital my arm was in this cast, I know they didn't find my arm because it was ea-umm thrown into the ocean by the blast, now don't ask me how I know, you wouldn't believe me, but this arm isn't mine, nor is it even human, that's why I need you Chris to make a mold of my left arm and make a…case for it, I can apply bandages on the outside to make it appear like a cast but with the case I can remove it in times of emergency." Now they are both looking at me like I'm crazy, well it's no surprise, I mean come on I'm six and I'm talking about cutting off arms and being replaced with something that's not human. ~Any ideas Atalanta?~ **"Hmm you cannot summon my card during normal times but I may be able to strengthen you and allow you to use some fraction of my power, focus your mind and push your persona power down your left arm, try focusing on my new skill Bufu, it should freeze your bindings causing it to become brittle enough for you to smash open"** I smile as I begin to hear my cast crack "Fine don't believe me, it seems the true path but watch" the floor in my room is carpet but the rest of the basement is concrete so I step out of my room and smash my cast of the floor, Atalanta was right, it did make it brittle. I turn back to the now gaping mouthed couple, and hold up my black, armor scaled arm complete with talons. "See? Not as easy to hide as my eyes" They both nod.

(end flashback)

Coming back to reality on the train heading to Iwatodai station I pat my encased arm, which Oba-san, he actually liked being called that now go figure, had just replaced for me before I left for Japan, neither of them liked the fact that I was leaving them but when I said that it was related to my arm and my parents deaths they knew they couldn't argue. Hell I didn't want to come back but when someone you haven't seen in ten years shows up on your doorstep halfway across the world what can you do. Ya, Elizabeth showed up a week ago said that it was time to come home handed me a pamphlet on some posh high school called Gekkokan and a address and map to 'Iwatodai dorm' then freaking vanished. So I informed my uncle and heh 'Oba-san' packed up my stuff and got my new arm case from Chris as well as a very tear-filled goodbye hug. Since Chris had deliveries to make it was only uncle Tyler and me in the car on the way to the airport in Ottawa, you can bet that that car ride was full of awkward silence, when we finally got to the airport it was just after 10:15...er 22h15 going to have to get readjusted to that, and my flight leaves just before 23h00 so I have a bit to wait, after twenty minutes uncle suddenly stood up turned to me and shoved a small bag into my hand and said a quick goodbye and left.

The big softie…He picked up a set of twelve Morpheus glasses, no idea where he got them, damn maybe I should have talked to him some more on the way up, hell he's probably crying in the car right now, blaring that god-awful country music he and Chris are so fond of, never got into that crap, stuck with rock and jazz and stuff. Bah enough of this mushy stuff its 23h55 and I'm in a metal tube in Japan next to this random redheaded chick listening to her own MP3 player with red flats stuck to her ears. Might as well look at the scenery even if everything is a certain shade darker with my Morphs on, as we started calling them, but I was pretty used to it, never took them off in elementary school, nor my first year of high school, had to drop a few guys who tried to paw them, or me, thinking that they could take advantage cause my arm was in a 'cast' ~Thanks again for convincing me to take that extra training 'Lanta~ **"Think nothing of it, it brings me great joy to see my Master so fit and ready for action, although to be honest your blood thing is kind of off putting, even for me…"** ~Hey you were the one who kinda predicted that this would happen, ooh look at the glowing blue butterfly that can keep up with a bullet train…wait, WHAT?~ Something about having a year? Bah not used to having voices in my head that aren't mine or Atalanta. Man there is something about this girl that I can't put my finger on…and it's not that you dirty minded person **"Do you speak of me? Because I do not have desires of the flesh, unless you were merely warning yourself away." **~Come on ten years together and you still don't have a sense of humor?~ Anyway back to the girl.

Actually maybe a description of my self first; I stand a whopping 5 foot 1 I have long blond hair tied in a simple ponytail so it goes down half my back , gots my Morphs covering my white eyed stare, my skin is pretty pale to, almost as pale at that Elizabeth chick from the Velvet Room, got a dark blue, short sleeved dress shirt on with my new school's uniform jacket thing half on, as in wearing it with my right arm in the sleeve and the left arm at my side inside the jacket, and some of my old jeans on as well as some generic black runners. Equipment wise I got my suitcase my cheap no-name MP3 with earbuds in my skull, and my Swiss-Army knife which Chris had somehow secreted into my suitcase when I wasn't looking, softie new I felt naked with at least one blade, well that was in my jean pocket now, ready for anything, I hope. Dammit! No more distractions time to describe this attractive girl sitting next to me!

Dammit she's taller than me, not by much but still… maybe 5 foot 2 or 3, she has her brownish red hair in a high ponytail that is unnaturally fluffy, seriously looks like a pissed off cat's tail, her skin is just slightly paler than normal and she's wearing the full Gekkokan high outfit, jacket-thing, skirt, the works, oh hey she's woken up from music land and is looking at me with her…red…eyes? Where have I seen this chick before? W-wait…couldn't be…"M-mina-chan? Is that you?"

**A/N ** Well that's chapter one done, mainly backstory but whatever oh and the lullaby that Atalanta was singing Lyn is nana na koimitheis no idea what that means, it's Greek and the translations came from a very nice person in the comment section.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Persona 3/FES/Portable Atlus does, All Hail Atlus**

"M-mina-chan, it that you?" The girl looks confused, can't say I blame her, I mean I don't exactly look Japanese, even if I really am half. Oh good an interruption.

-There has been a malfunction in the train's system, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, we will be arriving in Iwatodai momentarily.-

"Umm, yes my name in Mina-chan, er… Minako Arisato, but how do you know? Have we met before?"

Aw she doesn't remember me, that sucks. But at least now I know her actual name. Lets see if I can jog her memory. "Ya, we have met before, you are the only person I've ever seen with actual red eyes. I-it was ten years ago…during our parents…accident, my arm was, umm, hurt really badly then I passed out, when I woke up in the hospital we only met once, you freaking glomped me, then I passed out for a week. Any of this ringing a bell?"

She closed her eyes and put a finger to her temple, deep in thought, looking very cute I might add. Then she gasps covers her mouth and, just like six years ago, tackle hugs me. Knocking my glasses loose as she does so. Crap, she's staring at my eyes.

"It _is_ you! I remember your eyes! Where have you been all these years? What's your name anyway? I'm so happy to see you again! Are you going to Gekkoukan too? That looks like the school jacket." well at least her happy speech has slowed down over the years.

"I've been living with my Uncle in Canada, my name is Lyn Relis and yes I received a…scholarship to attend Gekkoukan, I will be living in one of the dorms, Iwatodai I think it's called."

-We have arrived at Iwatodai station, please be sure to have all of your belongings before exiting the train-

Quick look at my watch reveals that it is 23h59. "Umm, sorry Minako-san but this is my stop, can you get off please?"

Hah! She still turns as red as her eyes when she get embarrassed. "Oh! Sorry! But this is my stop too, I'm living in the same dorm as you, I was worried I wouldn't know anyone…" Crap, what do I do. Oh I know.

"Alright then I will wait for you outside." I grab I suitcase and run out of the train and I feel Coffin-Time coming; five, four, three, two "Hey, wait up!" quick turn and Minako is running right for me, zero, Coffin-Time.

Instead of her turning into a coffin like ten years ago she stayed human. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because she's the first person I've seen that was normal during this time. Bad, because it means that what Igor was telling was true and something was going to happen.

Minako is looking around confused, seems this is her first time since the accident that she was in this Time.

"Hey, Minako-san lets get to the Dorm, it's pretty late." I readjust my glasses when she nods and we head down the coffin strewn and blood splattered streets, she must be pretty freaked out, she grabs onto my arm and holds on for dear life, squeezing pretty hard too, wow her hand is soft…FOCUS!

Alright we are almost there and I haven't heard any blobs around, turn this corner and…ah there's the dorm, wait, the lights are on? Everything is still green so Time hasn't resumed yet, could there be more people aware living there?

"U-uh see Minako-san? They left the lights on for us…lets get in." When we enter I don't see anyone around until I hear a little boy's voice from the left.

"Welcome" There's a little boy sitting on the sign-in counter, pale skin, black hair, and two-toned blue eyes, seriously why does everyone I meet in Coffin-Time have weird eyes? He's wearing prisoner pyjamas, white and black horizontal stripes. "You're late. I've been waiting a long time. If you want to proceed, then please sign here, it's a contract.

He hands Minako a red folder with a single piece of paper inside, I look over her shoulder and read the single line of text -I Chooseth this Fate of mine own Free Will- "There's no need to be scared, it only binds you to accept the full responsibility of your actions." Creepy, why would the dorm make this little guy stay up for us? What was with the classical wording on the contract, why was Minako signing it already…crap, can't let my only local friend go it alone. I move to the right side of her at the desk and she hands me the pen, under her signature of 'Minako Arisato' a scrawl my own 'Lyn Relis'.

Jailtime, as I'm going to call him, picks up the folder and hugs it to his chest like a long-lost teddy bear. "Very well. Time is something no one can escape. It delievers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away." He backs up and steps into a shadow "And so it begins" The lights go out and its normal Coffin-Time again, Jailtime is gone, no trace of him behind the counter.

"T-that just happened right Minako?" She nods and is about to say something when another female voice comes into the conversation.

"Who's there?" Brunette is staring at us from the stairs, she's got brown eyes a _very_ pink cardigan and an extremely short skirt, seriously I have underwear that's longer than that thing, oh and a gun, which she is hyperventilating and reaching for, that ain't good.

Crap I won't be able to get my Swiss out and throw it in time, nothing else around to throw, time to try diplomacy. "Uh…Parley?" I hold my hand forward to show that I have nothing to threaten her with, this is apparently the wrong move cause she gasps and draws her pistol.

"Takeba, wait!" Oh thank you for redheads! A long haired girl comes down the stairs and grabs pinky's shoulder. Hey the lights are back on, the Time ended. Our saviour turns to us and begins to speak.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm." Kirijo, isn't that the name of the group that built Gekkoukan and pretty much owns the town? She looks much more mature than Pinky, probably our Senpai, she has her deep red hair pulled over her shoulder, and her eyes are a reddish brown, heh she's the opposite of Minako. Kirijo-senpai is wearing a white cardigan that seems to accentuate her…assets with a black skirt that almost reaches her knees, so almost a good half foot longer that Pinky's. She also has knee-high stiletto boots…and this is her walking around at midnight outfit? Damn…

"Who are they?" Aw Pinky, did you feel left out? "They're transfer students, it was a last minute decision to assign them here." Something is wrong here, I got my dorm papers a week ago… "They'll eventually be moved to the normal dorm."

"Is it okay for them to be here?" Wait you're scared of us? Little Miss Gunslinger? "We'll see…" Not ominous at all there senpai, thanks for that. She points a Pinky "This is Yukari Takeba, she'll be a junior this spring, just like you."

"Hi, I'm Yukari…" Wow you sound like it was us that pulled a gun on you, actually "Why do you have a gun? Doesn't Japan have some intense laws against that?"

"Huh?" Wait that caught her by surprise? Did she expect me to just forget that she pulled it on us? "Um, well, it's sorta like a hobby…" Shooting the new students is a hobby now? "Well, no a hobby, but…" Hah, she's flustered, she turns to Kirijo for support.

"You know how it is there days… It's for self-defence, it's not a real gun, of course." Looks real to me, but Minako seems to accept this.

"Hi, I'm Minako Arisato, pleased to meet you, and this is my friend Lyn Relis." I nod to the two on the stairs.

"It's getting late. You'll find your rooms on the 3rd floor, Minako your things should already be there. I suggest you two tuck in for the night." Aw well thanks for noticing that it's after midnight Kirijo. She turns to Yukari and motions towards the stairs.

"Oh…I'll show you two the way, follow me" I begin following Yukari up the stairs with Minako behind me, I was right her skirt is to short I could see her pink panties all the way up to the third floor, she leads us down to the end of the hallway. "Okay Minako is on the right and…Lyn is on the left, pretty easy to remember, huh?…Since it's at the end of the hall. So, any questions?"

"I signed a contract…" Not really a question Minako, and now Yukari looks confused "Huh? What's this about a contract?" Time to bail Minako out "Never mind Takeba-san, she's just tired, go to bed Minako, I'll talk to you in the morning, g'night." Yukari hands us our room keys and Minako goes into her room and shuts the door, just when I'm about to do the same Yukari starts talking again.

"Um… Can I ask you a question?" Sigh and nod, I'm too tired to be polite right now "On your way here from the station, was everything okay?" Ah, I see, trying to see if I know anything about Coffin-Time. Tilt my head and ask sweetly "What do you mean? Everything was fine, didn't run into _anybody_." She looks confused for a moment "You know what I- never mind. It seems like you're alright." If only you knew Yukari "Well I'd better get going…Um… I'm sure you still have other questions, but let's save them for later okay? Good night." I wave and enter my room. The walls are light blue and there is a window to on the wall to the right of the door, there is a desk with my new text books under the window, a wooden dresser on the wall to the left with a mini-fridge next to it and a bed on against the wall opposite the door, the bedspread is a deep blue and is made of…velvet? Elizabeth you shouldn't have.

I lean my suitcase against the dresser and begin to get undressed to go sleep when Atlanta starts talking to me.

"**Master wait! You are being watched, behind you in the corner of the room, there is a camera."**

I knew watching all those movies with Atalanta would pay off one day. Her new knowledge of modern technology paired with her keen hunter's instincts were a godsend, I don't bother looking for it, that would just raise suspicions, so I get in bed with my clothes on and put my glasses on the night stand next to the bed after setting my alarm earlier than needed so I could try to find the computer the camera was leading to.

Alarm goes off at 5h00, I have a while before we have to leave for school, I open my suitcase and grab a towel as well as my glasses, it should be good cover for any cameras in the hall, yep, I just got up early to take a shower nothing to be suspicious of here. I'll check upstairs first, ah good the girl's shower is up here, that door should be the roof access, and what's behind door number three? Looks like a second lounge, there's a few chairs and a couple couches, bookcases line the walls except for one of the back corners and a giant computer screen and chair in front of the huge keyboard. Jackpot.

Alright, boot it up, input password? Okay time to remember what uncle Tyler taught me, he's some super computer programmer or something and taught me a lot about computers and how to bypass their security measures…and there I'm in, whoa bunch of cameras in this place, one in every room and hallway, at least I don't see any bathrooms, that's sort of a relief, ok delete last night's video of Minako and my rooms, replace with a photo from when we were sleeping, start up the timer/clock thing, erase the part of the video of when I entered here, input a command to start the camera in here in five minutes so I will be in the shower and nowhere near here when it starts, turn off the machine and get out of there.

Whew safe, got into one of the shower stalls and started the water when I hear the door open. "Hello? Who just came in?" "It's Yukari, I was just looking for you, we have to leave for school in 10 minutes."

"Alright, I'll meet you downstairs? Just give me a minute." The door opens and closes again, I shut off the water and dry myself off, wrapping the towel around myself I head back to my room with my clothes under my arm, now that the camera is no longer working I get dressed in my new school uniform. White short sleeved dress shirt, black skirt nearly reaching my knees, I hate skirts, no where decent to hide a knife without it showing, and the school jacket, worn the same as before, right arm in the sleeve, left arm against my side with the left side of the jacket wrapped around it. Grab my music, put an extra pair of glasses and a roll of bandages in my schoolbag and head downstairs.

"Sorry for making you wait, Takeba-san, Minako-san." They turn to face me and Minako smiles at me "No worries we were just about to come check on you, oh and come on we're friends, drop the 'san' Lyn-chan!" I smile and nod, and we head out the door and walk to the train station, we get their early enough for me and Minako to get lifetime passes like Yukari has. We board the New City passenger train 'Anehazuru' and Yukari starts talking to us.

"We have to take the monorail to get there. Bet your last school wasn't like that, huh? This is my favorite part… when it feels like you're gliding over the sea. Our stop is Port Island Station at the end of the line. From there, we walk." We look out the window and see this huge white building on an island. "Have you ever heard of Tatsumi Port Island? It's a man-made island. They built our school right in the middle." We get to our stop and exit the train with Yukari, several students exchange greetings with her as we enter the school.

"Well, here we are… Welcome to Gekkoukan High! You're gonna love it here!" We enter the lobby and I see a bunch of tiny lockers…oh right! Shoe cubbies I'd forgotten about them. "You're ok from here right? You should go see you're homeroom teacher first. The Faculty Office is in the hall to the left… And that concludes the tour. Do you have any questions before I go?" Ya, was that your idea of a tour, no, no bite my tongue. Minako speaks up.

"What class are you in Yukari-san?" Yukari looks…worried? "I don't know yet, there may have been some unexpected changes" Unexpected…right. "Hey, about last night…don't tell anyone what you saw alright?" A couple of students look at us when she says that, I get the feeling that Yukari doesn't understand innuendos, and with that Yukari runs of down the hall to the right so Minako and I head in together after we switch shoes.

There is a bunch of students gathered around the bulletin board where the class assignments were posted. I saw a tanned girl yelling at a guy in a track suit, a black haired girl with a long ponytail looking sad about something and a bunch of others gathered around the board.

"Wait here Lyn-chan I'll go find our names!" Minako charged into the crowd in front of the board and I could only laugh, she came back pretty quick too. "I couldn't find us a first, then I found both of our names as well as Yukari-san's on a post-it note saying that we are all in class 2-F!"

"That's great Minako-chan, now come on we have to get to the Faculty Office." We head down the left hall and I nearly run into a bespectacled long haired student. "O-oh! P-please excuse me! I wasn't watching where I was going… I was looking for the library but I couldn't find it." I look around and I see the 'Library' sign down the hall…it's the only door on the left side of the hall.

"It appear that the library is at the end of the hall on the left." She turns around and sees the sign, turns back to us and blushes a deep crimson. "O-oh I see, th-thank you for your help. I'm Chihiro Fushimi, a freshman." "Lyn Relis, a junior, pleasure to meet you," "Hii~ I'm Minako Arisato, nice to meet you!"

"W-well I'll see you around Relis-senpai, Arisato-senpai." We both wave and she hurries to the library. We then enter the Faculty Office. There is a woman wearing a peach business suit with matching pants.

"Oh are you the new students? Lyn Relis and Minako Arisato, 11th grade correct?" The teacher picks up two files from her desk and opens them. "Wow Minako, you've lived in a lot of different places… Let's see… in 1999... That was what ten years ago? Your parents- *gasp*" Minako winces, I grab her shoulder, trying to give her some semblance of comfort, she looks over and smiles sadly. The teacher shuts her file and opens mine.

"W-well then how about you Lyn? Wow you came all the way from Canada huh? Let's see in 1999...your parents…oh." She shuts my file and places both of them on her desk and turns back to us "I-I'm sorry…I've been so busy, I didn't have time to read them beforehand. I'm Ms. Toriumi, teach Composition. Welcome to our school."

"I'm pleased to meet you." I bow slightly and Minako is pretty much bouncing on the spot "Nice to meet you!"

"Wow such manners and enthusiasm! Girls like you two should be role models for others. Have you seen the classroom assignments? You're in 2-F; that's my class. But first, we need to go to the auditorium. The Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me." And follow we did, the assembly was divided by classes so I managed to get a seat next to Minako just as the principal was beginning his speech.

"As you begin the new school year, I'd like each of you to remember the proverb 'If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.' When applied to student life, this means…" Dear God this man likes the sound of his own voice, wonder if I can catch a nap.

*Thunk* Minako's head is on my shoulder now, guess she had the same idea, ah well guess I'll listen in on the dude's behind me talking.

"I heard we got a couple of transfer students." "Yep, I seen them, too. They both came to school with Yukari, whoa is that them there? Check it out the redhead is cuddling with the blond!" "Wow, guess the rumors were true then…" Come on Toriumi save us.

"I hear talking" Wow dude you sound cranky "I believe it is someone in Ms. Toriumi's class…" Well there is that.

"Shhh! Be quiet! You're going to get me in trouble!" Toriumi pretty much hissed at us, come on teach is that all you care about?

Sigh, first day of school and there are already rumors about me being a lesbian, that's a new record, and this is Japan so the rumors are going to take even longer to stop. I nudge Minako awake when the ceremony is over and we follow Ms. Toriumi to class.

"Class we have two new students joining us today, Please show them the ropes, alright girls introduce yourselves." I motion for Minako to go first, I was looking around at the people the class, Yukari is sitting near the front of the class, and the guy in the track suit from the entrance was in the back, I didn't recognize anyone else, but there was this tall guy with a cool hat in the back row by the other door.

"Hi there everyone! I'm Minako Arisato, I moved here from Tokyo recently, I hope I can make lots of friends!" Damn she's chipper alright time to tone it down a notch.

"Hello everyone, my name is Lyn Relis, I moved here from Canada although I am originally from here, pleased to meet you." Small bow and Ms. Toriumi points to a couple of empty desks at the back of the class along the window, I take the seat at the very back of the class and Minako sits in front of me. Nothing of note happened in class that day, when the final bell rang and Minako and I were gathering our things to leave, I felt someone behind me.

"Sup, dude!" I make sure my glasses are on right as I turn around with Minako to face this new voice, Oh it's the guy with the hat, he's got a big smirk on his face and this tiny goatee on his chin. "Haha, you two look like deer in headlights."

"What do you want?" I was tired and didn't want to deal with anyone trying to hit on me, or question me about my cast. Wow he looks sad now, maybe I went to far…

"Oh come on, Let me introduce myself at least." Whoa that was a fast recovery, he's back to the huge smirk. "I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet ya! Just call me Junpei, I don't care about that honorific business. I transferred here when I was in the 8th grade. I know how tough it is being the new kid… So I thought I'd check up on you two, make sure you weren't freaking out on your first day."

Seems like Minako thought he was funny cause she was giggling. "Hehe, thanks Junpei, but I'm fine I have my friend Lyn-chan with me so everything is okay!" Here comes Yukari…why does she look angry?

"*sigh* At it again, huh? Honestly, is there any girl you wouldn't hit on? Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?" Damn bitchy much? Aw look at what you did, Junpei is all sad again.

"What? But, I was just bein' friendly." Don't worry buddy I got your back.

"It's alright Takeba-san, Junpei was just making sure that we were alright, no need to bite his head off." Yukari looked shocked that I would defend Junpei, hell so did Junpei himself. Yukari recovers first.

"A-anyway, some coincidence that we'd be in the same homeroom, huh?" She's looking nervous, let's see…

"Right, coincidence" With as much sarcasm as I can muster. Oh look at her flinch.

"Um, hello? Did you forget I'm in this class too? C'mon lemme in on the fun! By the way, do you guys know each other? I heard you three came to school together his morning." Why did that last statement sound dirty… "A group of cuties like you, walking side by side… The whole class is buzzing about you."

I knew it, it's gotten worse since the assembly, now it's a lesbian threesome…hmm…no damnit FOCUS! Yukari is talking. "Ugh… Could you just cut it out? I hate dealing with rumors like that." So she's a rumoured lesbian then? "I mean, I'm used to it, but they just got here, you know? Don't you feel bad, spreading rumors like that?" Oh so it's Junpei who's spreading the rumor eh? Might have to deal with that eventually. "Well I've gotta go take care of some archery team stuff. Don't try anything funny, you got that Junpei?" She starts walking towards the door but stops and comes back and leans towards Minako and I.

"You two haven't told anyone about last night, right?" Junpei finally recovers from his shock upon hearing that. I can't believe she said that with a straight face.

"You suck at words, Takeba-san" I groan, face palming and pointing to Junpei.

"L-last night?" And Yukari finally gets it "W-what? I just met them last night, nothing is going on! I gotta go…" And she runs out the door, turning back to look at Junpei he looks like he's still fantasising about what he thinks that the three of us did last night. Must have a good imagination, he's getting a nosebleed, time to teach him a lesson.

"Oh, Junpei…" He turns to me and I hit him in the face with my cast, just to get the point across. "Ow! What was that for?"

"What do you think Junpei, I could almost see what you were imagining in your head!"

He sighs "Alright you got me there. Oh and just to be clear, I seriously didn't come over here to hit on either of you or anything… although I did get a new fantasy hehehe…" I raise my cast again "Alright, alright, sorry! Hey, if either of you ever have a problem, you can tell your ol' pal Junpei about it!"

I tilt my head and look at him, hoping he gets my point of how unlikely that would happen, but Minako on the other hand… "Thanks Junpei, I'll remember that!"

"Heh, cool, well I'll be seeing you two around then, bye!" He leaves the class room looking like he had won the lottery… "Well Lyn-chan, shall we be going?" I nod and walk to the front of the building with her, I'm starting to feel anxious, it's been a few days since I've fought anything and I can feel myself getting rusty, but I can't go looking for trouble with Minako with me, and something tells me I don't want Kirijo to catch me sneaking out of the dorm after curfew, nor can I let Minako go back to the dorm by herself, she is my friend and I don't want anything to happen to her. Is that Junpei by the gates?

"Hey you two! I see that Yuka-tan has abandoned you, never fear Junpei is here! I'll make sure that you guys get home safe and sound!" Now, normally I would say no but this is a golden opportunity. I can tell Junpei is an alright guy, little perverted but not enough to warrant worry.

"Sounds good Junpei… Oh shoot I forgot I have some business to take care of on the island, sorry could you take care Minako-chan home for me Junpei?" He's positively glowing at the thought of his new responsibility. "Oh and Junpei? It's been a while since I was here last, is there any places I should avoid?"

He thinks for a moment "There's nowhere like that on the island…Oh! Accept for the alleyway behind the station! There are some bad guys hanging around there." I bow in thanks, also to hide my wide grin "Thank you Junpei, I should be able to catch the next train, see you at the dorm later Minako-chan!" We wave and head our separate ways. I had a skip in my step at the thought of the coming violence.

Gunna bust some heads, gunna feel good, oh hey a drink machine, lets see what they have… weird Japanese drink, Orange Smash? Dr. Salt? Second Maid? Were these lost in translation or just outright copyright infringement? Oh well Orange smash tastes about the same, to bad I haven't seen a cream soda equivalent yet, I purchase a few more and put them in my bag and head into the alley.

There's four guys doing whatever they do back here, smoking, drinking, drugs…are those two playing Yu-Gi-Oh? Man these guys are _evil_ and must be punished. There's also two heavily made up girls smoking on some stair further back, no problem, people like them don't usually join in the brawl, they are there for a spectator sport, one which I am happy to oblige them. I put down my bag and turn to face them.

"Hey what are you doing here?" "Check out those rags she's from Gekko high." "She think we'll go easy on her cause she's in a cast?"

"Oh don't worry about me boys, I'm just here to relieve some stress…" Using their confusion to my advantage I punch one of the card players in the face with my right hand and immediately swing my cast into the other player's face, both are knocked out and the one I punched has a broken nose, two down two to go.

"What the? Does she think she's getting away after that?" Got a big guy and a skinny guy with shoulder length brown hair. The big guy pulls a bat out from somewhere I couldn't see and the skinny guy pulls a switchblade.

"Finally getting serious are we? Come at me Bro!" Damn you, Uncle Tyler, damn you and your memes. The skinny guy hangs back and lets the big guy rush me, dodge his swing, shift out of the path of his kick, and cast to the side of the head. "Timber!" And he is down, I can here the 'audience' laughing at the failures of the 'tough' guys. Now its just me and skinny with the switch. He's a lot quicker than the big guy.

Dodge the knife, dodge the kick, he dodges my cast and then I get punched straight in the face, crap, didn't hurt much, but he punched my glasses and the nose piece cut into my nose as they broke apart. Confusion, shock then fear, all play in rapid succession on his face, I ram my fist into his gut, causing him to drop the switch and fall to the ground, I kick him a couple times for good measure, I hear the girls get up and start walking away laughing.

"Hahaha, thanks for the show Blondie, hope to see you around again."

I am about to turn around to get my bag when.

"**Wait Master, there is another, he has shown no aggressive behaviour yet but be wary, he seems to be much stronger than you"** ~Thanks for the heads up 'Lanta~

"I know you're there, come out here." Then this big guy in a maroon pea coat and a beanie comes out from a shadow I hadn't noticed before. I look at his eyes and get a headache and a rush of information.

CASTOR: Soul Rank 37

Hierophant

Weak N/A Resist N/A

Skills; Regen 1, Counter, Fatal End

I fall to my knees and grab my head. "Gah! What the hell? Who the shit is Castor!"

(Focus shift-Shinjiro, rewind to the start of the fight)

Who the hell does that blond think she is? Walking in here like she owns the place, tch, and she's injured too, these guys will be drawn to her like any predator seeing hurt prey. The guys start with their usually insults and threats and the girls turn their focus on their next source of entertainment. But…something seems off… why is she smiling so wide?

"Oh don't worry about me boys, I'm just here to relieve some stress…" Did she come here on purpose then? Wha-? She took out those two idiots who were always playing that annoying card game in a flash, both one-hit knockouts, hell she hit the one with her cast. The girls seem like they are enjoying themselves on a whole other level now that it's the guys that are getting beat.

"Finally getting serious are we? Come at me Bro!" …What?

Tch, I never bothered to learn their names, but the guy with the bad was to slow to land a hit on the new girl and, whoa, she took him out with a quick swipe of her cast, damn that guy was nearly my height and she's, what, five foot nothing looks like. Now it's just her and the 'leader' and he's got a knife and he's pretty quick. They dodge each other's attacks for a bit until he punches her in the face, looks like the hit broke her stupid looking sunglasses.

Huh, looks like breaking her glasses pissed her right off cause now he's on the ground and she's just kicking him. The girls see that the show is over and get up to leave.

"Hahaha, thanks for the show Blondie, hope to see you around again."

The new girl starts to turn to get her bag and go hopefully. She freezes and looks over to where I am leaning against the wall, where I thought I was out of her field of vision.

"I know you're there, come out here." Tch, I step away from the wall and approach her. She looks me up and down, probably assessing my threat level, then she locks with my eyes. Her eyes…are white? Is she blind? Did she just kick the crap out of four guys blind? What the fu- and now she's falling to the ground and screaming.

"Gah! What the hell? Who the shit is Castor!"

What? How the hell does she know about Castor!

(Revert focus-Lyn normal time)

My headache passed as quick as it came. ~Any idea what that was about Atalanta?~

"**I believe you saw his persona, it's abilities at least"** ~So he has a persona eh? That means he can see Coffin-Time then, but if that's true why couldn't I see anything from the girls at the dorm?~

"**Maybe your glasses stopped the contact somehow, It might need unhindered eye contact to work, of course I am only speculating"** ~No, no, that makes as much sense as any, hey he looks spooked, guess I scared him.~

"How the hell do you know about Castor! Did Aki set you up for this? The hell is with your eyes?"

"Dunno how I know but I do, don't know any 'Aki's' and…uh…magic?" I really need to come up with a better cover story for my eyes, I always panic and say something stupid… like 'magic'.

Well that stunned him at least, I retrieve my bag get my new glasses on and take off the, now bloody, bandages of my arm case, I dump them in the corner and re-rap my case with the bandage roll I had, I also take Skinny's switchblade, not the best weapon but better than nothing. I'm almost to the train by the time the big dude recovers from the stupidity that is 'magic' and catches up.

"Hey, wait! I wasn't done talkin' to you!" I enter the train and turn in the entrance, blocking him if he tries to enter.

"Well sorry Beanie-boy, but I'm done with you, catch you around!" Yes! Timed it perfect for the doors to close on my last word. The train leaves the station leaving a very bewildered guy on the platform. I run back to the dorm once we get to my stop, there was only fifteen minutes till curfew and I had an irrational fear of provoking Mitsuru.

"Welcome back, please be aware that it is almost curfew, you really shouldn't be outside on your own at night, it's too dangerous…why are you bleeding did something happen?" Oh shit I forgot about the cut um…come on lie lie lie…no! quasi-truth!

"I wasn't looking where I was going and ran into a pole, it pushed my glasses into my nose as they were breaking…"

"Relis your glasses are intact, what really happened?" Oh shit that is a cold glare "I always carry a spare in case something like this happens "I pat my 'cast' "I'm really clumsy Senpai, sorry if I worried you."

"Hmm well if you are that tired you should go to bed and get some rest then." Good she bought it, I start heading up the stairs to go to my room when I pass by a silver-haired guy going the other way, we exchange nods and he continues on his way. I stop and wait to see if I can hear anything.

Alright so apparently the silver guy is called 'Akihiko' hmm could he be 'Aki'? Apparently he was going out to 'train' and Mitsuru didn't like that. Called him reckless. I couldn't catch much else so I went to my room and went to sleep after I put my cans of pop in the mini-fridge.

-Rrriiiiinnnnggggg- -SLAM-

Damnit I forgot to reset my alarm, ah well, guess I could make something for lunch. I get dressed and head down to the kitchen to see what I have to work with, not much it seems. I guess there's no one that cooks here, I'll have to fix that. I manage to make some sandwiches, five to be precise, I've always had a large appetite and maybe I could persuade Minako to eat with me today, as an apology for ditching her yesterday.

Walked to school with Minako, apparently Yukari had to leave early for Archery or something, only thing of note that happened in the morning class was me saving Junpei when he was asked a question while half-asleep. Ms. Toriumi didn't seem to notice that I gave him the answer but everyone else did.

"Relis gave him the answer, she must pay attention in class!" …That's praiseworthy here? The hell?

Ah lunch the best time in any students school day, I tapped Minako on the shoulder.

"Hey Minako-chan? I made some food today, want to eat it with me? As an apology for ditching you yesterday." Her eyes lit up and she started drooling… she whips her desk around and freaking materializes a napkin stuffed in her collar, she likes her food apparently.

Whoa she _really_ likes her food she ate three of my sandwiches in the time it took me to eat one! And here I thought that I was a fast eater, we split the last one and it is quickly devoured.

"Thank you for the food, Lyn-chan! It was great!" Aw now I have warm fuzzies in my chest.

After school Minako and I walk back to the dorm together, when we get there Yukari is sitting in the lounge with an older guy with glasses and a mullet, didn't even know that mullets were known of in Japan. Yukati notices us first.

"Oh they're back" Mullet-man turns to us.

"So, these are our new guests…Good evening, please have a seat." We nod and sit on the couch opposite Yukari and turn our attention to Mullet in the seat next to us. "My name is Shuji Ikutsuki, I'm the Chairman of the Board at your school. 'Ikutsuki…hard to say, isn't it? That's why I don't like introducing myself. Even I get tongue-tied sometimes…" …This guy is in charge of our school, be afraid. "I apologize about the confusion regarding your accommodations. However, it may take a while before you receive the proper room assignment. Is there anything you'd like to ask?"

Well might as well get to the heart of the matter. "Why did you come here?" Ya rude I know but something irks me about him.

"To welcome you two, of course, speaking of which… Where's Mitsuru, Yukari?"

"She's upstairs" Yukari points up as if her words weren't enough.

"As diligent as always. Although it doesn't hurt to come down and say hello…do you have another question?"

Crap, diligent? Does that mean that Mitsuru is in the room on the 4th floor?

"Who else lives here?" Thank you Minako for taking the focus off of me.

"There are only five students in this dorm: You, Lyn and Yukari here, Mitsuru… And a senior named Akihiko Sanada. I hope you all get along. Was there anything else?"

I shake my head "No, not really, I'm pretty tired so if you'll excuse me…"

"Yes, you two should get to bed, you know what they say, the early bird catches the bookworm!" Oww, that was painful "Please excuse the pun" Never, you are evil.

Yukari looks at us "You'll get used to his jokes."

"Doubtful Takeba-san, good night." Quick bow and head up to my room, deciding that I should confront them tonight, in Coffin-Time for added effect. I reset my alarm and start on my homework and do a bit of studying, waiting for midnight. Ah finally ~Hey Atalanta, can you tell if anyone is in the halls?~

"**I cannot sense anyone besides Minako in her room, you should be fine if you go now"**

Sneak up to the 4th floor, and begin focusing Atalanta's hunter sense's, sharpening my hearing, I hear Ikutsuki.

"They're still asleep, the Dark Hour occurs every day at midnight; you could say it's the 'hidden' hour. During this time, an ordinary person Transmogrifies into a coffin, and is oblivious to all that occurs."

"Then, they must be…" Damnit, Yukari is in on this too? Ah well her statement left me with a perfect entering point.

I open the door and walk into the room. "I don't know about Minako, but _I_ am quite upset by all this!" Jeeze they're all here; Ikutsuki, Yukari, Mitsuru and Akihiko. They all have the same expression, shock. I walk over and sit down before anyone can recover.

"Naughty, naughy, watching two young girls sleep, what do you have to say for yourselves?" I hold my chin with my right hand and watch them. Mitsuru is the first to recover.

"W-what? But you're on the on the screen!" Really? Just going to ignore my questions.

"I hacked it on the first day, you'll have to get your jollies somewhere else, but now that I have your attention, maybe you could answer my questions?"

"But your file didn't say anything about this!" What kind of file would show that I could hack?

"Oh? You have a file on me do you? And just what does it say, Mitsuru?" She flinches at the sound of her name without an honorific, to bad, you don't get any respect if you spy on me and my friend.

"I-it says that you lived with your uncle in Canada for the last ten years along with a record of your academic achievements, it didn't mention anything about computer skills. Also that you had gotten into fights frequently with the gangs in your area."

Damn they dug into my past quite far… time to test something, I reach up and take of my glasses. "Okay, Mitsuru, what about my…medical record?" I look at each of them in turn, starting with Yukari.

I get no rush of information, and she looks scared and shocked when she looks into my eyes. Akihiko next.

POLYDEUCES Soul Rank 12

Emperor

Weak; Bufu/ Resist; Zio

Skills; Sonic Punch, Zio, Dia

Alright I got the info from him without a headache, he looks slightly confused when he sees my eyes, he probably new about them before, I look at Ikutsuki and get nothing, he doesn't even look shocked at my eyes. Lastly Mitsuru.

PENTHESILEA Soul Rank 18

Empress

Weak; Agi/ Resist; Bufu

Skills; Analysis, Bufu, Mabufu, Dia, Marin Karin

So only Mitsuru and Akihiko have Personae? Why do all of them besides Ikutsuki have the fake guns?

Mitsuru looks slightly shocked and says "Th-the file said that your eyes were white, but not to the extent that you don't have pupils! How can you see? It also said that your arm had been in that cast since you were a child." Good I still have some secrets at least.

"Alright, now why would you be trying to spy on Minako and myself? Seems like a bit much just to be a voyeur, there aren't cameras in the bathrooms so that means that you want something else…" Ikutsuki decides to speak up.

"We were seeing if you had the Potential, we wanted to see if you and Minako coul-"

"Wait, you will explain this to her and I at the same time, if I do not find your explanation adequate… lets just say you won't like the outcome…good night" I get up and exit the room, letting the others try to gather themselves, as I was closing the door I speak once more.

"Oh and if you reactivate the cameras in Minako or my rooms I will have to get violent, so don't try it."

Well that could have gone better, I get back to my room and collapse on my bed, almost immediately falling asleep, I can hear a voice calling in my dreams.

"Master…Master Lyn Relis." I'm flying down a hall with a checkered floor and heading towards a blue door… I recognize this! Its been ten years but I'm going to the Velvet Room. When I enter I see Igor talking with Minako, Igor sees me come in and addresses me.

"Welcome back to the Velvet Room. It has been some time since you were last here, I was just introducing myself to your friend here, please take a seat." I sit down next to Minako and listen to Igor. "Only those who have signed a Contract may enter here." He waves his hand and the paper that Minako and I signed when we first arrived at the dorm appears.

"Henceforth, you both shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room, you are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so." Unique? So not Persona then. "I only ask one thing in return…that you abide by the contract, and assume responsibility for the choices you make." I nod my understanding, this was all familiar to me, unlike Minako.

"Is this a dream?"

"Precisely my young friend, you are both asleep now in the real world, now hold onto these." An ornate blue key appears in each of our hands. "Those are Velvet Keys, they will allow you to come here of your own will. Unfortunately Elizabeth could not be here to welcome you back Lyn, she is retrieving her brother so that he may aid you two in your Journey. I will introduce you another time. 'Til we meet again…" And everything fades to black.

I wake up before my alarm when someone knocks on my door, I open the door and Minako walks in, she looks frazzled, I think I know why. I show her my Velvet Key and she shows me hers.

"It wasn't a dream Minako-chan, and I think things are going to start happening soon, come on we should leave for school before the others today, I don't feel like answering questions.

We end up taking one of the first trains, we're surprised to see Junpei at the gates so early in the morning, he sees us and comes over.

"Yo… Man, I'm so sleepy today, it's times like these when it's best to sleep in class! You ever notice how sometimes taking a nap in class makes you feel more refreshed than sleeping at home?"

I nod and Minako says "I know what you mean!"

"Right? You go from dead to being completely full of energy again. It's such a great feeling… Then again, I'm not listening to the lecture, so I'm screwed later! Oh, but we have Classic Literature today… That means we're stuck with Mr. Nasty ol' Ekoda…" We head into class.

Huh, Junpei wasn't kidding this guy is boring!…Did he just call his subject 'Da Bomb?' what. I manage to stay awake but Junpei and Minako are already sleeping.

After school Junpei says he wants to show us around Paulownia Mall.

"Hey, have you guys been here before? A lot of students come here after school. There's a café, a karaoke box, CD store and there's also a nightclub…but I've never been inside."

The mall is crowded with students so we say goodbye to Junpei and head back to the dorm. When we enter we are greeted my Mitsuru.

"Welcome back, the moon is beautiful tonight. It might be nice read a book by moonlight once in a while."

Well that was an odd greeting, I'm feeling tired for some reason so I head up to bed, I change and put on my pyjama's, a short sleeved button up silk shirt with matching shorts, a gift from Chris, and get into bed and fall asleep.

I awake in Coffin-Time, the dorm is shaking like something big hit it, I jump out of bed, push my glasses into place, grab the switchblade I took of the punk and open door. Yukari is handing Minako a naginata and has a quiver and a bow on her back. They both turn to me when the door opens.

"Hurry! Downstairs! We'll leave through the back door!" I follow Yukari downstairs and into the kitchen, just when she reaches for the door Mitsuru's voice can be heard.

"Takeba do you read me?" "Yes! I hear you!"

"Be careful! There's more than one enemy! The one we're fighting isn't the one Akihiko saw!"

Just then the door nearly buckles from a strike from the other side.

Yukari gasps "L-let's pull back! Upstairs hurry!"

We run upstairs and hear glass breaking. "It's getting closer!" Thanks for that Yukari.

We get onto the roof and Yukari locks the heavy metal door behind us.

"The door's locked. I think we're safe for now…"

As if to prove her wrong a large black hand grabs the edge of the roof and another hand appears holding a blue mask with an 'I' in the middle of the forehead. The mask locks onto us and a bunch of other arms appear and pulls itself onto the roof. It materializes a bunch of huge knives, this is going to suck.

"You gotta be kidding me! It climbed up the wall?" She calms down and turns to us. "That's the thing that attacked this place… we call them Shadows. O-oh yeah… I have to fight… I-I can summon mine… No problem."

She pulls her gun and starts muttering to herself and holds it to her head. I don't know what the hell.

"How would that help anything Takeba!" I shout at her just as the blob, no, Shadow slaps her with a free hand, knocking her out and knocking the gun towards Minako. She picks up the gun and stares at it, I can see Jailtime appear in front of her and points to his head in the shape of a gun.

"Can you do it?" he asks her and a really creepy grin appears on her face, I can barely hear her talking.

"Per…so…na" Then pulls the trigger, instead of brains and blood blasting out the side of her head there was shattered blue glass. A booming female voice starts speaking words that are very familiar to me.

**Thou Art I and I am Thou**

**From the Sea of Thy Soul I Cometh**

**I am Orpheus, Master of Strings!**

A mechanical figure appears behind Minako, the figure has long orange hair, Red eyes, a white face with a red scarf around it's neck, a vaguely feminine torso with a speaker in her stomach and a heart shaped harp or lyre on her back. This must be her Persona then. Wait, something's wrong.

Minako falls to her knees gripping her head and screaming, I look at Orpheus and there's something tearing itself out of her. Orpheus explodes and a black shadowy figure appears, I can barely tell what it looks like, my vision is darkening, I hear a thump beside me, I look down and my cast had fallen off, I look at my left arm in alarm and it wasn't there, my vision is gone now, I'm blind, my arm is gone and my friends Persona just exploded into some big black thing. I decide to summarize my feelings in the most eloquent way.

"What the Fuck?"

**A/N Well there's chapter two down, and its quite a bit longer, oh well.**


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I only own Lyn, everything else belongs to Atlus, all hail Atlus!**

I could hear something roar, then there was the sound of something pounding the ground repeatedly to the left. I hear Minako scream and fall to the ground. I feel dizzy and stumble backwards till I fell the wall behind me. My vision begins to return slowly, I'm still holding onto the switchblade, I grip it tighter, my left arm is burning, I look at it and I can see the black _thing_ reforming into my arm.

Suddenly remembering I wasn't alone I shift my still blurry gaze and see two forms on the ground, passed out, I hope anyway. The big mass of arms is gone, guess it was killed. Blinking my eyes to clear my vision I remember the cameras, I throw the switch where I remember the camera being from relation to the angle from the command room.

I hear the familiar sound of Shadows, I turn to them and see three small blue masked blobs, I summon Atalanta's card and slash through it with my now-revealed claws.

"Atalanta! Swift Strike!" Atalanta appears and rushes the incoming Shadows. She killed two of the shadows instantly but missed the last one. I'm still unfocused so I fail to dodge when he slashes at me, ripping my shirt and cutting into my gut.

"Shit that hurt! Little bastard, prepare to die!" I summon Atalanta's card in front of the final shadow's mask and slash through it and it's mask, killing it, with my claws. "Atalanta, Media please." I walk over to retrieve my cast as soothing green light envelopes the three of us on the roof. The gashes on my stomach close but unfortunately healing spells don't fix clothing or bloodstains so I have a ripped silk pyjama shirt with blood stained onto the shorts.

I grumble about getting a replacement as I unwrap my cast, put it on my arm, and rewrapping it. Just as I'm finishing up I hear a groan from Yukari, I turn back to them and see her coming around, but Minako is still passed out. Ignoring Yukari I go to check on Minako, I just now notice that she's in her school uniform for whatever reason. She's still got Yukari's not-gun clasped in her hand.

She's still breathing, that's good, maybe she's just passed out from the shock of all this being dumped on her in one go. I guess I should have talked to her about all this, but it's hard to break a silence that lasted ten years. I pick her up, bridal style, cast under her legs and arm supporting her back with her head on my shoulder just as Coffin-Time ends and turn to Yukari.

"Get the door, she needs rest" Just then the door bursts open and Mitsuru and Akihiko rush out onto the roof. Mitsuru looks tired and is wielding a rapier, Akihiko on the other hand has boxing gloves on but his left arm is hanging loosely at his side and is holding is side with his right arm, guess he got the worse of it.

"You look like crap Akihiko, let me change quick and I'll go to the hospital with you, I'm worried about Minako-chan." I look to Mituru "I take it you called a taxi or ambulance for him? Oh, and don't worry we will have words later." She just nods and head back inside, I turn to Yukari.

"Get some sleep, you don't look so good, see you later." I head back to my room and lay Minako on the bed so I can get changed, I put on some casual clothes, loose t-shirt and baggy jeans, I gather my essentials, keys, wallet, cellphone and pick up Minako and head down to the lobby.

Akihiko looks like he's about to pass out from the pain and Mitsuru is watching for the car by a window. I lay Minako down on a couch and walk over to Akihiko.

"Not doing so hot, eh? Hold still, I probably won't be able to do anything about the bones but I should be able to help with the pain." He looks confused but nods to tell me to go ahead, Mitsuru is looking at us curiously, well check this out Mitsuru.

~A Media once again Atalanta if you please, I will channel it down my arm.~ I focus and my hand begins to glow green, eliciting gasps from Akihiko and Mitsuru. I place my hand first on his side then his shoulder and arm, concentrating the Media into a single target. I look at Akihiko

"Hmm I was right I can't do anything with your ribs, you have four broken by the way, but your upper arm just had a cracked bone, much easier to heal so that's fine, a few muscles in your shoulder were torn but they were healed easily, you still need the hospital for your ribs." …Aaand now they are staring at me. "What?" Mitsuru finds her voice first.

"W-what was that? Did you just use a Persona spell without summoning it? Outside of the Dark Hour?"

I nod "Yeah that was a concentrated Media spell, I assume that Dark Hour refers to Coffin-Time? When everything is green, yes?" She nods "Well it's harder to use it in other times but not impossible." A car is heard pulling up. "Your other questions will have to wait, I assume that that is our ride."

I pick up Minako again and head to the door which Mitsuru opens for Akihiko and I. A black town car is waiting for us, must belong to Mitsuru's family. We get in and an awkward silence fills the car, no one says anything, I manage to pry the gun out of Minako's hand and give it to Mitsuru. Mitsuru must have called ahead because once we pulled up two gurneys were rolled out and I placed Minako on one and went inside with her as Mitsuru was trying to get Akihiko onto the other.

I was told to wait outside while the doctor examined Minako, I didn't like it but I had no counter-argument. Fifteen minutes pass before the doctor comes out, in that time Mitsuru arrived and told me that Akihiko would be fine, and would be coming home with us, can't really put a cast on ribs.

"She appears to be fine, it looks like she just collapsed from exhaustion, we will keep her here until she for observation, please come tomorrow if you want to visit her." The doctor told us before wandering off, I look to Mitsuru and we go and collect Akihiko and leave and get back in the car.

"Hey, uh, Lyn? Thanks for healing me…It sucks that I'll have to stop training until my ribs heal but I should be back in top condition faster thanks to you." Akihiko is blushing, didn't Junpei say something about Akihiko having a fan club..? Wonder how much they would pay to see him blush…evil idea.

I pull out my cellphone and quickly take a picture of his blushing face. "No thanks necessary Akihiko, but I'll take this picture as payment if you feel obligated to me." He looks confused, time to enlighten him.

"You are popular at school, yes? Something about a sports club right?"

He nods "Uh, yes I'm the captain of the boxing team, but what does that have to do with my picture."

I grin evilly "You have a lot of fan girls at school Akihiko, and I like money, I wonder how much I can make with this picture of your _blushing_ face, hmm?" All color drains from his face.

"Please no! not that! I'll do anything…just please delete the photo…" Good, just as planned.

"Alright Akihiko, but only if you buy me dinner for the next…hmm…five days, and don't worry I won't consider it a date." I wink at him, which causes him to blush even further, ooh I can see it's going to be fun teasing him. I hold up my phone. "Do you agree to my deal?"

"…Fine, but its going to be beef bowls and ramen so prepare yourself, you're too skinny, you'll probably give up by the third day!" He flashes a confident smirk. Boy, you don't know what you're messing with. I hand him my phone so he can delete the picture just as we arrive back at the dorm. We get out of the car and I turn to Akihiko.

"See you at the gates after school tomorrow, Akihiko. See you tomorrow Mitsuru." I turn and head inside and up the stairs heading for bed, I reach the third floor landing when Mitsuru catches up to me.

"Relis, a moment please." I turn to face her "Why have you been calling Akihiko and myself by our first names?" Really? That's what was bothering you?

"Honorific's denote respect right? I lost most of my respect for you and Akihiko when I caught you spying on myself and Minako-chan, I will still refer to both of you as senpai in public, keep up appearances and all that, but you will have to earn back my trust and respect, goodnight, Mitsuru." I enter my room and shut the door.

Walked to school in the morning with a depressed Yukari.

"What's eating you, Takeba?" I was mildly concerned, mainly cause we're in the same class and her depression is rolling off in tangible waves.

"I was supposed to protect you two last night, but I was the one who ended up being protected, I froze up…"

"Yukari…was that your first time fighting the…Shadows? I assume you have a Persona as you were trying to shoot yourself in the head with that summon-pistol thing."

"Y-yes it was…and we call the guns 'Evokers'…I haven't summoned mine yet, I know it's not a real gun but I just can't pull the trigger." She looks like she's about to cry…

"Listen Yukari, I'm sure that Minako-chan will forgive you when she wakes up, you've seen her, she's always positive about everything, so be strong for her, okay?" She looks at me and smiles.

"Sure Lyn-chan, I'll try… now come on, we're going to be late if we don't hurry." We make it to school in time.

(AFTER SCHOOL)

I change my shoes and head to the gate to wait for Akihiko. There's a commotion coming from the entrance, I turn and see a mass of female students screaming and trying to get the attention of the silver-haired boy in the middle of their mass.

"Akihiko-senpai! You're so cool!" "Let's go somewhere, Senpai!" "Squeee!"

Oh God! My ears! I feel slightly sorry that I threatened him with the picture, but I can't let him know that… time to mess with him.

"Hey, Senpai! You ready to leave? I'm pretty hungry…" I smile sweetly at him as the collective gaze of his fan-club turns on me with murderous intent.

"U-uh sure, Lyn-chan…let's go." As Akihiko and I walk away I can hear his fans complaining.

"Who was that?" "Who does she think she is!" "Why would he choose her over me?" I can only smile to myself.

We end up at the strip mall and he takes me to a ramen shop called 'Hagakure' he leads me inside and order's for us.

"Two large specials, please." Wonder if he's trying to intimidate me with the size, how little you know.

I raise an eyebrow "Large?"

"What? It's good and we need to keep our energy up…but if you don't think you can handle it…"

I merely give him a 'hmph' and wait for our food, when it arrives I start eating immediately. I guess I surprised him because I was half done by the time he starts on his own. When I finish I order another and Akihiko nearly chokes on his noodles.

"You're getting _another_ one? But you're so skinny and short! Where are you putting it?"

I raise my eyebrow again. "Oh? I didn't know you paid such close attention to my figure, Senpai." I laugh as he blushes, realizing what he had just said. "Don't worry, Senpai, I was joking, I've always eaten like this."

We finish our bowls in silence, he pays and we head back to the dorm. I say goodnight to Akihiko and head up to my room to sleep.

(4/11 Sat. MORNING)

I forgot that there's school on Saturday's here so I was a little late getting up, got to school on time but I had run most of the way so I was out of breath, I get a few amused glances but nothing else.

(AFTER SCHOOL)

I catch Akihiko before as he was leaving his class.

"Hey! Senpai, you ready?" And just to tease his fan girls and fluster him I grab his arm as we walk to the entrance, I can feel the collective hate of his fans as we walk, and I hear Junpei wolf-whistle as we pass, I'll have to straighten him out on Monday.

After we leave the school I let Akihiko go and he turns to me. "I invited a friend to eat with us today…"

I pout "Aww, you got a chaperone, Akihiko-Senpai? Am I that threatening?" I laugh, showing him that it was a joke.

He brings me to the same strip mall and we head up to the 'Beef Bowl place" and there is a familiar figure waiting outside wearing a pea coat and a beanie.

"Hey, it's Beanie-kun! He's your friend, Akihiko?"

"A-ah yes, he is, this is Shinjiro Aragaki, Shinji this is Lyn Relis, a new resident at the dorm…"

Shinjiro doesn't seem to recognize me, well let's change that, I take off my glasses and look at him with a grin. Oh the look on his face is priceless, shock mixed with recognition.

"Wha-! Your that crazy chick from the alley!"

"Aww, so glad you remember me, Beanie-kun." I turn to Akihiko as I put my glasses back on "Shall we eat? It seems that we have even more to talk about now."

We head in and order, Shinji looks slightly surprised when I order a large but doesn't say anything, Akihiko decides to start the conversation.

"So…you two know each other?"

"Yep, met him after my first day of school here, I met him in the alley behind the station…after I beat up four guys…"

"Hey, why did you just walk in and start hitting them anyway?" Shinji asks.

I shrug "Bored, needed to loosen myself up."

Akihiko looks shocked "You walked into that kind of place because you were _bored?_"

I sigh "Come off it Akihiko, you're obsessed with training, you don't get to lecture me on a warm-up."

I start to feel extremely tired and excuse myself.

"I'm going to visit Minako-chan then head home…see you later, Akihiko-senpai, Shinjiro-seinpai." I leave and head to the hospital.

(Minako's hospital room)

There's no one here at the moment, I pull a chair over and sit down next to her bed.

"Jeeze sleepyhead, when are you going to wake up?" I reach over and move some hair out of her face. "Looks like something big is starting…I don't know how much you remember from ten years ago, but that\s alright, I can deal with it if I'm the only one that remembers the night that our parents were killed." I grasp her hand. "So please just wake up…just wake…" My head begins to wobble and my eyelids feel heavy.

When I open my eyes I'm in the Velvet Room, sitting to the left of Minako and across from Igor.

"It's so nice to see you again, I was just explaining to our friend here what a Persona is, I have summoned you here so I can tell you what I didn't ten years ago. You power will evolve and grow as you develop you Social Links-your emotional ties with others. The stronger your Social Links, the more powerful your Persona ability, please remember that."

"When will Minako wake up, Igor? It has been two days…" I ask him.

"She still needs to get accustomed to her power, it will take another week before she is ready to face the coming Ordeals, do not worry, she will wake. Now, I still have much to explain, we shall meet again." And everything fades to black.

(4/12 SUNDAY-Morning)

I open my eyes and see that I am still in Minako's hospital room, the sun is shining through the window, alarmed I flip open my cellphone to check the time, a blanket that I didn't know was around my shoulders falls off. It's 6h30, I was in the Velvet Room all night, I have a _huge_ crick in my back. I stand and stretch, my back returns to its natural form with an audible 'crack'.

"Sonuva-ngh! That hurt, let's remember not to do that again, alright me? Oww…" I try to rub my back, wincing from the pain, guess I was preoccupied because I didn't notice the other person in the room.

"Do 'what' again, Relis? Not return to the dorm? Or maybe, not inform the dorm of your escapade?" Mitsuru is sitting in the corner behind me, well since the truth is unbelievable and I got no believable lies…

"Nah senpai! None of those! I just meant that I should get a better chair before I attempt a Vulcan Mind Meld." Her eye twitches, guess she gets the reference, who'd a known? "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get home and change, then bother Akihiko, laters!" And I run, I run as fast as I can, trying to avoid the shitstorm that I may have just unleashed.

Alright, made it out to the street, I shouldn't go to the dorm, it's what she'll expect, but I can't walk around in my school uniform and try to bend it… Ah! I'll go straight to the mall, I have my wallet on me, so I'll just buy a new outfit, change, then try to find Akihiko after lunch.

(Afternoon)

Alright, got my uniform in my bag, new clothes on my body, a deep purple sweater and black hip-huggers. I just came out of the Café in the mall, delicious blueberry muffins by the way, so now it's time to find my man-slave!

I look around the mall and quickly see a silver head enter the police station, which oddly enough had an English sign. I approach stealthily and manage to catch some of the conversation happening inside.

"We have two new recruits with us, I'll need you to look for some appropriate weapons and armor for them, Officer Kurosawa."

"Alright, I assume you have their weapons-of-choice as well as their sizes then." Creepy

"W-what? Oh, yes, ahem. One uses a naginata with some proficiency and the other seems to prefer daggers or maybe a shortsword that can be used with one hand, she seems to be a street-fighter. A-and um their s-sizes are…" Creepy! Do Not Want! Not listening, lalalalala.

"Hey! Who's there!" Ah crap, guess I made a noise from all the creepiness.

"I-it's just me Akihiko, the street-fighter, in case you were wondering, Officer." I shake off the residual creepy feelings and turn to Akihiko.

"So you know our sizes, eh, Akihiko? And just were did you get this information? And we're 'recruits' now? Guess that's a step up from stalker-victim…" His face goes white, and I hear a stifled laugh from the officer, I turn to him when I hear the laugh.

Holy Crap.

This guy is badass! He just gives off this…air of 'screw with me and die' kinda like what Shinjiro tries to pull off, but next to this guy…Shinji's an amateur. First off, he's tall, and tanned, and has a chiselled face with dark, piercing eyes…er…back on track. This guy is cool and appears to be our weapons dealer, ahem.

Ignoring anything that Akihiko is trying to say I speak to the Officer "N-nice to meet you, Officer, My name is Lyn Relis, I assume that you are the weapons dealer, yes?"

"…Yes I'm Officer Kurosawa, I'm just an ordinary police officer…" Bullshit "But even I can tell something's not right in the city, I'm only doing what I think is right."

"Cool, as Akihiko told you I prefer my weapons short and stabby, long daggers or one-handed swords, for obvious reasons." I point to my cast.

"She's a recruit Aki? She looks like she's injured worse that you are…"

"Y-yes, she has apparently had that cast for over ten years, it appears that she has developed a fighting-style in spite of it. You have heard of the vicious beatings that those punks received last week right?" Crap! Akihiko is going to rat me out the fuzz!

"Hmm, I'd heard the reports, as they all have previous criminal records none of the officers are looking for the perpetrator too seriously, even less so as they did not want to give a description of their assailant…what does this have to do with your acquaintance here?" I couldn't help it, I started to laugh, the thought of those 'big, tough thugs' trying to explain that they got whooped by a petit blond in a cast was too much.

"Bwahaha! Oh god…sorry Officer, guess that's my confession, if you can get them to admit that it was me, that is." I wipe away a tear that was forming behind my sunglasses. I look back to Officer Kurosawa and can just barely see the corners of his mouth turn up in a tiny smile, looks like I'm in the clear.

"I see…you should be careful around this one Aki, she appears extremely competent."

Akihiko sighs "And don't I know it, now if you'll excuse us, she's blackmailing me into draining my wallet…" He leaves the station with a wave.

I turn and smile at Officer Kurosawa "I look forward to working with you Officer, see you later." I bow and exit, catching up with Akihiko.

"So…about those sizes, you never answered where you got them, Akihiko." I say sweetly.

"U-uh…it's not what you think! Mitsuru was able to get the information from the school, it's the same numbers as what was taken for your uniform, you do remember that they are fitted right?" he asks hopefully.

I put a finger to my lips "Ah, I see. Mitsuru threw her name around to get what she wanted eh?" He nods, then freezes realizing what he just did. "Oh well, since you have been a good boy and answered my questions I'll let you off easy today." He looks hopeful.

"You won't have to buy me anything today, but the dorm has nothing to cook with, so you are going to be my bagboy and carry the groceries back to the dorm, understood?" His hopeful look is replaced with a face of resignation, but nods.

(Evening)

"See, Akihiko? That wasn't so bad, and there were only five of your fan-girls in the store!" Oh it must have torn them up, seeing their idol of affection shopping for food with another woman.

"Yeah *sigh*, I guess. So does this mean that you cook or something? Cause I don't think that Yukari or Misuru do."

"Uh-huh, my Uncle and Auntie would have starved to death if it wasn't for me! They pretty much existed on takeout before I came. Ah here we are, let me get the door for you, my noble bag carrier, hehe." I go and open the door and let him in.

"Ah, Akihiko I was wondering when you'd get back…what are you carrying?" Mitsuru asks from her position on the couch.

I enter behind Akihiko and respond for him. "I got some groceries seeing as the cupboards are filled with nothing but instant ramen and the like, that's really unhealthy you know! You should balance your diets, especially, heh, if your day lasts longer than twenty-four hours…anyway, he's carrying them since I'm such a weak little girl with a hurt arm, who couldn't _possibly_ hurt anyone…" I couldn't help but say that as humorously as possible.

"I see… I assume you are going to cook that food, it would be a waste otherwise, oh, don't think I forget about you running this morning…we will speak of this lat-"

I interrupt, trying to dodge a lecture. "Oh sorry about that, oh would you look at the time, gotta go! Put those away for me, would you Akihiko, Bye!" I turn and run out the door. Leaving two confused seniors in my wake.

(Dark Hour)

Crap, didn't think this through, I ran from the dorm to escape a lecture about staying out at night, only to find myself wandering the streets when the Dark Hour hit.

"Well shit, guess I should go back and apologize." I turn around and begin walking.

"**Master, there is someone crying in that store"** ~What? Lend me your senses Atalanta, I beseech you.~

I feel Atalanta strengthening my hearing and sight as I run to the store.

"W-what's happening! What ARE these things? Someone, anyone help! Wahh!" Comes from inside, where do I know that voice? I forcefully open the doors and head inside.

Dodging past coffins I head towards the back of the store, there are four Shadows cornering a guy in the fetal position, holding his head with his hands. I summon Atalanta's card.

"Atalanta! Magaru!" I thought that these were the only Shadows until that night on the roof, every Dark Hour in Canada only had one kind of Shadow, a small blob of darkness with a blue mask with a 'I' engraved on it's forehead, but since meeting Lots-a-Knives I'm starting to wonder.

The Magaru did the trick, hitting and killing all shadows present. I call out to the guy on the floor.

"Hey, you alright? I took care of the monsters…" He lowers his hands from a _very_ familiar hat and looks up at me. "Holy shit… Junpei?" 

**A/N Hey all, kinda a shorter Chapter, had to pull some extra shifts, and see the fireworks seeing as it was Canada Day yesterday…lesse what else can I talk about…OOH I know! Thanks to sync94 for being my very first reviewer person!**


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: I only own Lyn, The Persona Series belongs to Atlus, and I give thanks.**

**Warning: This chapter has an extremely mild scenes of girl love, I normally wouldn't post over something so small but I don't want to offend anyone, oh and slight nudity for shock value.**

"Holy Shit…Junpei?" Yeah the guy who was crying and screaming was Junpei Iori, the hell? Does that mean that he's going to be joining our little 'club'?

"L-lyn, is that you? Wh-what's going on? What did you do to those…those things?" He looks tired, confused, disoriented. Guess that's to be expected when you're almost eaten by something out of a nightmare.

"Calm down Junpei, let's get out of here and I will try to answer your questions, hopefully we wont run into anymore of those things." I offer my hand and I pull him up, he wobbles a bit but follows me out.

"Alright I'm not to good at this whole explaining thing but here goes; there are twenty-five hours in a day, now before you scoff look around, everything's green, people are coffins, the moon is huge and yellow and you were just attacked by slimes, got it?" I don't think he gets it, hell I've been living it for ten years and I don't get it.

"I-I think so? You're some kinda hero right? Running into danger and helping people?" Oh so he almost gets it.

"Ehh, kind of. The green time you are now experiencing is called the Dark Hour, most people turn into coffins, so anyone left awake, such as you and I are something special, specifically we have a…guardian inside of us that we call out to fight. I don't really know why we kill the Shadows- the slimes that attacked you, I've been doing it for training for years now." His eyes are kinda glazing over, guess the adrenaline is wearing off.

I lightly slap him to wake him up. "Alright pay attention, you're probably going to pass out soon, I'm going to make a call when you do." Or at least hope that Mitsuru's spies dug up my phone number cause I never got either of the senior's. "When you wake up we'll probably talk about this again, you can pass out now." And pass out he did.

Shortly afterward the Dark Hour ended, and immediately after it ended my phone started ringing.

"Ah, it's Mitsuru, called it!" I flip open my phone and answer the call.

"Hey Mitsuru, save the speech can you send a car to come get me? I kinda got a passed out guy who was being attacked in the Dark Hour. I'm at the Mini-Mart a few blocks from the dorm, you know it?" I can hear her gasp on the other end of the phone.

"A-are you sure? I'll send for a car right away, I will be expecting a full report when we meet at the hospital though, Relis. You won't escape this time." Damn she sounds pissed.

Junpei is diagnosed as unconscious, doctor says that he should be awake tomorrow. Mitsuru left a note telling him to report to the report to our dorm after school tomorrow, err, today after school for an explanation. With that settled Mitsuru, Akihiko and I head back to the dorm, but before I can escape to the relative safety of my room Mitsuru drags me to the command room on the 4th floor and Akihiko follows behind us.

"Alright Relis, no running this time, lets start off with the newest and work our way back. How did you find that boy?"

"I went for a walk, to avoid a lecture from yourself. Heard crying coming from the Mini-Mart soon after the Dark Hour hit so I went to investigate, good thing I did too. I found Junpei bawling his eyes out in a corner surrounded by a group of Shadows, I took them out then helped Junpei out of the store."

Mitsuru gives me a 'you're-hiding-something' look "And how did you defeat 'a group' of Shadows so quickly as to not let them hurt Iori?"

I'm really confused now "I used my…Persona? I thought that you knew I had one, isn't this why I'm even living at this dorm?"

"But you don't have an Evoker." Akihiko says drawing his summon-pistol, an Evoker apparently.

"Don't need one, never did." I shrug.

"'Never did'? So you've had a Persona for a while now. How long have you had it?" So many questions, Mitsuru.

"Ten years, give or take a month, exactly as long as I've been experiencing Coffin-Time or as your group calls it the 'Dark Hour'. Killed my first Shadows the third time I was conscious in the Dark Hour, does that answer your question, Mitsuru?"

"For the moment. But _how_ do you summon your Persona without an Evoker? And how did you use that healing spell on Akihiko outside of the Dark Hour and without summoning?"

Endless font of questions, she is. "I don't know how I call her, I focus and she comes to me. And as for the healing, I followed Atalanta's directions and she taught me how to use her skills a long time ago." I raise my right hand and concentrate forming a tiny, green whirlwind in my palm.

Mitsuru raises an elegant eyebrow "Atalanta?"

"My Persona"

That shocked them both, for some reason. "You Persona…talks to you?" Akihiko asks.

"Yeah she does…and judging by your faces neither Penthesilia or Polydeuces do. Oh…fuck I said that out loud didn't I? Well crap, I'm a freak even amongst Persona-Users." This is going horribly and I'm tired, it is after midnight on a school night.

"H-how do you know the names of our Persona's?" Asks Mitsuru.

I shrug and take off my glasses and look into their eyes and rattle off their information. Their eyes widen is shock. "Yeah…seems like I'm really supposed to be blind but something, Atalata maybe, interfered… I guess I really am blind now that I think of it. I've got scanner eyes or something, as long as the Persona has been awakened I can see it." I put my glasses back on, unfiltered light kinda hurts after years of wearing sunglasses constantly.

"My, that is a very intriguing talent you have, Relis-kun" Ikutsuki says as he enters the room, or maybe he's been there since the start, I didn't notice his approach… and neither had Atalanta, she would have told me and that worries me.

"I didn't here you come in Ikutsuki, but since we're all here and it seems to be a sharing mood tonight, may I ask some questions?"

After they nod I continue "You have cameras all over the dorm, including the roof, yes? I would like to see the recording of our fight that night, will you show it to me?"

"Well if you want, but you were there…why would you need to see it?" Damnit Ikutsuki! Ok convincing lie, convincing lie.

"Yes, I was there, that doesn't mean that I saw everything and that…Shadow seemed off to me. Also, if you plan on me joining this ragtag group of monster hunters I'll need to analyse everyone's fighting styles…" Please buy it, come on…

"Ah, a very reasonable explanation, just a moment and I will have it playing for you." Well that's just swell Ikutsuki, use you're creepy voyeur cameras for the side of _good_!

Alright so after Minako summoned Orpheus some big black thing broke out of Orpheus and black fog or smoke joined it, the fog/smoke came from me, maybe why I went blind and my left arm disappeared? When the fog had joined the Big One it formed into a huge longsword and a weird cape or shawl thing that looked like it was made out of coffins. Big One then proceeded to beat the crap out of Lots-o-Knives. During which I see myself on the screen back up till I was just in the edge of the frame from when I backed into the wall. After Lots-o-Knives was a black puddle of goo Big One turned back into Orpheus and the fog returned to me, Minako fainted and I was clutching my left arm, as it reformed but it was very hard to see from the angle provided, after which the recording stops due to knife related difficulties with the camera.

"We have no idea what that large black creature was that broke out of Minako's Persona, we were quite concerned when that happened." Wait…What was that Mitsuru?

I slowly stand, clenching my fist and begin to quietly speak. "So…you guys didn't watch this at a later time, you watched it _while_ it was happening? Why you didn't think to come help us? As far as you knew at the time Minako and I had never heard of Persona and Yukari had never summoned hers before! What the hell guys?" Damnit, the first people I meet that experience the Dark Hour turn out to be assholes.

Ikutsuki is looking at Mitsuru with…annoyance? "Don't be mad with them Lyn-chan, it was my decision to watch…to see if you have the Potential of course."

I turn and glared at Ikutsuki. "You are not my friend, you will address me as Relis-san, you will stay away from me, you will watch yourself around the dorm, because if you pull anything like this again I _will end you_. Are we clear?" I was beyond rage, green wind was coursing around me, blowing my clothes and hair, the three of them looked sufficiently cowed.

I walk to the door in my personal windstorm and look back at them. "I will be telling Minako about this, I'm disappointed in you Mitsuru, this could have been handled much better." I shake my head and head to my room to sleep, it was a school day tomorrow after all.

(4/13 MONDAY-Morning)

Surprisingly after going to bed so late I was the first one up, I went down to the kitchen to make breakfast as well as something for lunch at school. I hear footsteps coming down the stairs and Yukari enters the kitchen, drawn by the smell of my awesome cooking.

When I saw her my first reaction was anger, I quickly pushed that down, after all she was stuck on the roof with us while Ikutsuki was taking bets on who would die first.

"Hey Takeba, want some eggs? I seem to have made a little extra." Might as well be civil with the one person besides Minako in the dorm who hasn't pissed me off…yet. "They're in the fridge, help yourself I'm getting out of here before Mitsuru and Akihiko get down here, see you later!" She waves as I head out the door with my bag.

I get to the station just as the early train is leaving, meaning that I'm stuck here till the next one gets here, great. I sit on the bench, cursing myself because I had forgotten my MP3 player on my dresser. I start thinking about Uncle Tyler and 'Auntie' Chris, wondering what they were doing…I'm going to write a letter or something when I get home.

Because I was lost in thought I didn't notice the arrival and approach of three individuals.

"Relis we need to talk" I look up and it's Mitsuru that's talking to me, flanking her are Akihiko and Yukari.

"No, we don't. You and Ikutsuki made yourselves very clear last night." I turn to Yukari "Did you know that they were watching us on the roof? That they saw you and Minako go down and did NOTHING to stop it? Hell, they only showed up after Minako's super Persona disappeared, but that was probably only because I had killed the camera and their show was ruined."

Yukari looks at the seniors, shocked and Mitsuru is glowering at me…is it getting colder?

"Well look at that…Mitsuru I thought that my channelling ability was new to you." Akihiko looks at me panicked.

"It is, Relis, why do you say that like I was lying to you?" Does she really not realize what she's doing?

"You're lowering the temperature here by quite a few degrees and there is frost forming on my glasses. Seeing as you are the only ice user besides me here and I'm not doing it, it must be you. Oh, and judging by Akihiko's face he knew about it too." Akihiko blanches and looks like he's about to pass out or die.

Mitsuru turns to Akihiko and says with deadly calm. "Is what she says true Akihiko? Have I…channelled before?" As he nods her mask of calm drops "Why didn't you tell me? I could have trained it and studied it! Why Akihiko?" Akihiko has to hop back as a spike of ice grows out of the ground and pierces where he was standing, luckily there is still no one else here.

I stand and turn Mitsuru towards me and slap her. "Calm down! For fuck's sake Mitsuru, we are in public!" The slap at least stunned her into inaction, giving Akihiko time to begin his explanation.

"W-well Mitsuru, you start to make it colder when you get mad… and if you get really mad, like you were just now, you make ice spikes. The Chairman told me not to tell you about it…" Fucking Ikutsuki.

"Alright fine, as loath as I am to the idea I'll try to help Mitsuru get it under control, in exchange, you, Akihiko, are going to take care of our…business regarding the hospital after school, are we clear?" They both nod but Yukari looks annoyed.

"But what about me? Can you teach me to channel too?"

"No, Yukari, I can't. Hell I don't even know if I can teach Mitsuru, but I definitely won't be able to teach you seeing as you haven't established your bond with your Persona."

The train arrives and Yukari gets on with a look of anger on her face, leaving me and the seniors to get on together. And everyone is looking at us…I wonder what I did this time, I look at the two seniors to see what was being seen by the others on the train.

Akihiko just looks shocked, still with the blood drained from his face, that would probably account the glares from his fan-girls. I look at Mitsuru and see…oh shit, _that's_ why everyone is staring, she has a red handprint on her cheek from when I slapped her, didn't think I did it that hard, shit it looks like it'll bruise, I'll have to fix that when we get to school.

The ride to school was silent, when we got there the seniors start to hurry inside, away from me. "Hey, Mitsuru-senpai" we were in public after all. "Come with me for a minute, I have some…make-up that'll cover that bruise." Hoping she gets my meaning I grab her wrist and head for the bathroom.

Good there's no one in here, but just to be safe I push her into a stall and lock the door behind us, no other reason, honest! Who would want to have an incredibly attractive redhead locked in an enclosed space with them… okay so maybe I have _some_ ulterior motives.

"Okay, Mitsuru hold still, this won't hurt a bit…I think" I focus a Dia into my hand and gently caress her face, to spread the healing energy around, no other reason…hehe.

A blush forms on her face at my touch and closeness, and probably the situation. "I'm sorry Mitsuru, I didn't mean to hit you this hard, I had to get you out of that berserker-state you were in, forgive me."

The healing finishes and there is no trace of the handprint, I've got to say, I'm good at what I do.

"Alright Relis, I'll forgive you…this time, now we should get to class" We exit the stall and the bathroom. There's a girl my age hanging around near the bathroom leaning against the wall opposite it, when we leave the bathroom her eyes go wide and stare at Mitsuru when she comes out behind me, could Mitsuru have a fan? Time for some fun.

I wait for Mitsuru to start heading for the stairs before shouting. "Meet you at the gates after school, senpai! We need to meet up so I can start teaching you!" She whirls around, a massive blush that nearly covers her face and her mouth is hanging open, I mearly wave and give her the biggest smirk I can. She turns and nearly runs up the stairs and I hear a 'thump' from beside me.

Guess my comment was a bit to much for Mitsuru's fan, cause she's out cold. I sigh and go over to her and pick her up. I look around for a student because I have no idea where the nurse's office is, there's a brown-haired guy coming in from the entrance that looks familiar…oh yeah! He's the guy that Junpei is always snickering with! Ke-something.

"Hey, you're one of Junpei's friends right?" He looks up at me then down at the unconscious girl in my arms.

"U-uh yea, name's Kenji Tomochika, what happened to her?" Hmm…truth or lie? What am I saying, it's always lie!

"Dunno, just came out of the bathroom as she fell over, you know where the nurse's office is?"

"Sure, follow me, but, uh, watch out for Edogawa, don't let him give her any…homemade stuff, alright?" This nurse sounds like a fun guy.

Kenji leads me down the hall that the Faculty office is in and opens the final door. "Well this is it, remember what I said about the medicine, bye!" Kenji books it back to our class, I shrug and enter the room.

"Excuse me, is anyone here? I need some help…" I call out, there's clanging and crashing from the back room, I can't see what it is because of another door. A tall bespectacled man wearing a lab coat with messy brown hair comes out. "How can I help you? Mm hm hm hm hm." Creepy mister, very creepy "What do we have here? Is she unwell? Is it a wound? A virus? A curse? Or is it love?" Well you came close with that last one I guess "This is the perfect opportunity to try out my new concoction…Eheheheheheheh" Dude! What kind of school nurse can cackle like a witch? And quit it with the huge smile!

"Uhh no, she just passed out from…shock, she just needs to rest." He sighs, his smile vanishes and gestures to one of the beds.

"I'll be in the back, call if something exciting happens." Guess I won't be heading to class just yet. I lay the girl down and sit in a nearby chair and wait for her awakening.

About ten minutes after the bell sounds the yet-unnamed girl wakes up and looks around.

"Hey, you're in the Nurse's Office, you passed out, don't know why, the bell for class went off about ten minutes ago, if you're feeling better we should get going" She looks at me and recognition flashes in her eyes.

"You! What are you teaching Mitsuru-Senpai? Why is she hanging around with you?"

"Hey Edogawa! She's awake, we'll be heading to class now." A grunt sounds from the back office which I take as assent. I leave and start down the hall. She catches up and grabs me.

"Don't walk away from me!" That's right scream in the halls, see what that gets you.

I shake her off, jeeze girl, you just earned another innuendo! "There are just some…things that I'm better at than Mitsuru, so I offered to help her increase her…skills." I intentionally left off the 'senpai'…I'm a bad, bad person.

"Wh-what does _that_ mean?" Well she's shocked, but not unconscious so that's a plus.

I shrug "I see no reason to tell you, now we are already late, so shall we?" I head to class without waiting for her to catch up.

(After School)

Well at least didn't punish me for being late. I head to the gates to wait for Mitsuru, Akihiko comes up to me and says. "Mitsuru has some Student Council stuff today, she'll be late, maybe an hour." I nod and he heads off to talk to Junpei. I sigh and go back into the school, might as well study in the library for a bit.

Before I head to the library I write I quick note saying that I'd be in the library, and that she could take her time. I knock and slid said note under the door before I headed to the library.

When I enter the library I hear loud, mocking voices. I look to the check-in desk and see that the person on duty had stepped out. I sigh and go looking for the source of the voices, I near the back of the library when I hear the voices again.

"Oh, Fuuka, you're sooo smart huh? Going to keep making us look like fools in front of the teachers this year too?"

"N-no, please…I'm sorry, please don't take a picture…"

"Oh! Not so tough now that we have something on you huh?" The second voice, the victim, starts crying.

I turn the corner to where the voices were coming from and I see three girls, two of them were, what was that weird fashion called…oh yeah Ganguro! Two ganguro girls and a short pale skinned girl with teal hair. One of the ganguro's was pinning the pale one and had the pale one's shirt and bra up around her neck, leaving her chest in the open. The other ganguro was standing above them holding out her cell phone, taking pictures…the fuck is wrong with this town?

I sneak up and snatch the cellphone away from the girl, sneakily freeze it with a bufu and hurl it to the floor, shattering it to pieces, memory card included.

"Hey! Why did you do that, you bitch!" Camera girl shouts in my face.

I feel Atalata's strength and rage flow through me, I back hand the standing girl with my cast knocking her back. I then walk over to the two on the ground and grab the other ganguro by her bleached hair and lift her,

sadly she's taller than me so I can only lift her to her feet. I spit in her face.

"What kind of _scum_ does this to another person, what kind of woman does this to another woman? What the fuck do you have to say for yourselves?" Without waiting for an answer I turn and toss her at her friend who was trying to sneak up behind me, to do what I don't know.

"Get the fuck out of my sight you painted whores!" I all but roar in their faces. They run and I smile when I see that the first one's cheek was swelling magnificently.

I turn to the girl who was still crying on the floor, Fuuka, I think they called her.

I kneel next to her, and start trying to pull down her sweater "Hey, it's alright, they're gone now, it's alright…" I try to sound comforting and calm, but it was very hard trying to get her clothes in place with one hand. "Erm…think you could help me? I'm kinda handicapped here…" She stops crying as hard as she was and looks up at me with tears coming out her eyes, then looks down at my cast.

She blushes, still crying and mutters. "O-oh! Sorry! Th-thank you for saving me…" She starts getting her clothes in order, I stand and turn, trying to give her a semblance of privacy even though I had seen everything already. I hear her get to her feet and she taps my shoulder.

"U-um, thanks again…" I turn and see that she's still blushing.

"I'm Lyn Relis, transfer student, you've probably heard rumors about me, they've spread like wildfire since I started here. Come let's go sit."

As we get to our seats I can't help but look her over, she wears a thick, green sweater under her uniform's coat, is wearing the normal skirt with white leggings or stockings. And the best part? She's shorter than me! Not by much but hell, she's the first person I've met here that's actually shorter than me. We sit and she starts talking again.

"M-my name is Fuuka Yamagishi… thank you again for saving me Relis-san…" She's stuttering quite a bit, from shock or lack of human contact I wonder?

"Please call me Lyn, Fuuka-san, I don't really feel comfortable with honorifics…will you tell me about what happened?"

She seems reluctant but talks anyway "They usually just push me around or take my books, nothing really, I'm used to it…I don't know what brought this on…it's my fault." She starts crying again.

Taking a chance I reach over and pull her into a hug, touching is a lot more personal here than in Canada. She stiffens at first, then relaxes sobbing into my shoulder. Holding her with my cast around her back I start rocking back and forth, patting her head and start whispering, trying for a comforting tone again.

"It's alright, I'm here, they're gone, everything is alright…shh." It didn't seem to have an effect so I start rocking her, remembering the lullaby that Atalata sang for me when I was crying I start to sing.

"_Rest your head to sleep... Rest your head to sleep... I'm next to you to protect you... Like sweet precious flowers... I lay you down to sleep… the care is like a golden key… To sleep like a small bird… To wake up to sweet bird songs... If you sleep Mr North Wind... If you sleep Mr North Wind… He gives you a boat full of dreams…To help rock you to sleep with the soft ocean waves… He'll sing a lullaby… You'll sleep__and wake... Wake and grow…"_

Now my voice is nowhere near the quality as Atalata's but it's…pleasant enough. The sobbing has stopped and her breathing has become slow and regular I look down and see that's she's fallen asleep on me, I keep rocking gently, humming the tune and stroking her hair. I hear the door open.

"Relis, are you in he-, am I interrupting something?" I look up to see Mitsuru looking at me, us, with a raised eyebrow, I motion her over so I can give her the quick version.

"Bullies were taking photos, chased them off, comforted her, the hell is wrong with this town?" I shake my head "Mind if we make a detour? I want to get her home." Mitsuru nods and walks back to the hallway.

I gently shake Fuuka and try to wake her, "Fuuka-san? We should be leaving, I can't image that the library is going to be open much longer…" I smile at her as she wakes up and blushes at me.

"Oh, yes…sorry about falling asleep on you…and getting your uniform dirty…"

"It's alright Fuuka-san, really! You should stop apologizing so much… hey, let me give you my number, do you have your cell-phone?" She nods and takes it out, we exchange numbers.

"Listen, if you want to talk about anything, or something like this happens again…or…want to go get something to eat, give me a call okay? Anytime, I keep a weird schedule so don't be afraid to call me at night. Now I'm going to escort you home and there's nothing you can say to dissuade me, and I am recruiting a …friend to come with us, shall we be on our way?" I start to stand, lifting Fuuka with me when time stops. A voice that I don't recognize, yet is familiar rings in my head.

"**Thou shalt have Our Blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana"**

Time resumes and although I'm confused I still manage to stand completely without dropping Fuuka, I look at her and she doesn't seem like anything strange happened, so it's just me then…wait, could this be the 'Social Links' that Igor was talking about? Have to talk to him soon I guess.

We collect Mitsuru and head out to bring Fuuka home.

**A/N **so yeah, that happened, I'm going to be screwing around with the social links quite a bit. Thanks to Kingdomlily for being my second reviewer person! And thanks to all that have favorited and alerted my story!


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but Lyn, All Hail Atlus!**

We got to Fuuka's house without incident, she bowed, thanked me again and started to apologize when I had to interrupt.

"Ah ah ah!" Shaking my finger at her "What did I say about apologizing?"

"Oh, r-right, I'm sor-" Once again I have to interrupt.

"It's alright! Go inside, I'll see you around at school, okay? Don't forget to give me a call if you need anything!" With one final wave she enters her house and I turn to Mitsuru.

"Well, shall we?" I start to walk and she has this weird smirk with a raised eyebrow while looking at me.

"Relis, I do believe that I heard _singing_ coming from the library, I didn't know you had that kind of talent…"

"There's a lot that you don't know about me, Mitsuru. And not all of it is as benign as singing." I am so evil, saying these things just to get her curious and riled at the same time, oh well, take your pleasure where you find it.

"Now, about my tutoring you on channelling, I'll need a room, I was going to suggest the roof but that's too open…know of any place we can use?"

"Well…there is the basement, we had plans to renovate it into a training room but it hasn't happened yet. The attack on the dorm damaged the electrical connections, the internet as well as the power for the basement was knocked out." Hmm that just might work.

"That brings me to another point, I have a few conditions. One; my teaching methods are not recorded, seeing as the power is off that won't be a problem for now. Two; you will not teach anyone these methods, I don't even know if they can use them, I'm only teaching you so that you'll learn to control your outbursts. And three; I don't want word of what I'm teaching you to reach Ikutsuki, I realize that you can just learn what I have to teach then go and report to him, I would hope that you have more integrity than that though. Those are my conditions, take them or leave them."

"I know that you and the Chairman haven't seen eye to eye lately but why all this secrecy?" Guess she really likes him or something.

"Besides the fact that he was perfectly content to watch us die on a roof for '_science_' he just rubs me the wrong way, it's not just me either, 'Lanta says that he smells 'off' to her. Oh and don't think I didn't notice that you didn't agree to my terms."

"…Fine, have it your way Relis. But know that I'm watching you. I agree to your terms."

"Excellent, now, if you will just send a message to Akihiko for me, I really should get your numbers, and tell him not to mention your training to Ikutsuki?" Mitsuru's eye twitched, guess I caught one of her plans.

(EVENING-basement)

"No, that's not it, you need to feel the energy, the power, coming from your Persona." I feel like I've gone over this a hundred times so far.

"I know that Relis! I just can't feel Penthesilia unless it's the Dark Hour!" Great I'm annoyed and she's angry…wait, maybe that'll work, kinda risky but…

"You know what? Fine, I didn't want to resort to this, try to remember the feeling of power."

While she's confused by my statement I pull her into a fierce bear-hug and kiss her full on the mouth. Really risky plan, but seeing as she only can channel when she's really pissed this might work…as long as I survive.

The air start's to get colder so I let her go and back off, ready to dodge the stabby ice that I know is coming, being somewhat resistant to ice will hopefully help.

Mitsuru's face is completely red, due to embarrassment or rage, maybe both. "Relis! I'm going to _kill_ you!"

Ice-knives start forming from the ground, I can barely see them as we only have a couple lanterns lighting the basement.

"Good Mitsuru! Remember that feeling!" Dodge the ice, dodge the ice, I like these pants in their current, hole-less state. "Gah!" Shit didn't see that one. Oh that's why, she's breaking them off the ground and throwing them at me, and now I have an icicle sticking in my left shoulder, time to put a stop to this.

I dodge around the now-spiked floor and duck under her sloppily tossed projectiles, tripping her so she falls to the ground. I sit on her, trying to immobilize her.

"Calm down, Mitsuru! Settle!" I can feel her tense up under me and with a loud scream a huge ring of ice surrounds us, almost like a tidal wave extending outward, except made of ice, very pointy ice.

"All done? Good cause this hurts like a bitch." I get off of her and sit next to her, not to far away but I can't help that, there's not much room inside the ring of ice.

I take a deep breath and grip the icicle and pull it out. "Sonuvabitch! Ow…" I toss the now bloody chunk of ice to the ground. I channel a Media through my body, healing the cuts and scraps, as well as the hole in my shoulder. Man, healing feels _weird_ all tingly and it feels green, I've never felt a color elsewhere besides healing myself. I also glowed green as I healed myself, slightly illuminating the area.

Mitsuru is glaring at me, to be expected of course, but she is also watching my shoulder flesh knit together again. "So will you tell me why you did that, Relis?" She doesn't get it? I thought it would be obvious.

"So far your only success with channelling has been when you're angry, so I made you angry. Do you remember how it felt?" She starts to blush again, why?

"W-why would you ask that? You were so forceful and…and I've never done that before!" What? Oh.

"No, Mitsuru, not the kiss, the feeling of power, of your Persona! Do you recall how it felt? Or how that last blast felt?"

"What? Oh… it felt like…I had ice in my veins, ice that wanted out…"

"Yes, but where did it start? Where did the ice originate?"

Footsteps are heard coming down the stairs, and a flashlight's beam is moved around the basement.

"Hey, what happened down here? I heard shouting. Where are you two?" Akihiko…so considerate, no inquiring about our health, naughty naughty.

"We're in the middle of the ice circle in the middle of the room, we're fine by the way, thanks for asking." I still have a partial hole in my shoulder, I get to be a bitch.

"Oh, right…that's good, do you need any help?"

"No! No, we're fine, really…" I would let him help, but he's weak to ice, so he would probably get hurt more if he got cut, and I don't want to heal any more than I have to.

"Fine… but hurry up, the Dark Hour is coming." Footsteps go back up to the lounge.

"Alright, now I'm going to have to…get close to you again, screw it, I'm going to hug you again. 'Lanta knows Magaru, so I'm hoping for an Eye of the Storm kinda thing to happen. So, will you allow me to embrace you?"

Mitsuru continues to glare at me, but she nods and stands. I keep my grin hidden until my head is on her shoulder, damn tall people. I focus and channel a Magaru, but fearing it won't be enough I condense it and summon another to add to it. The power is singing in my veins, building higher and higher till I can no longer take it. I push the Magaru out in all directions, my Eye theory proved to be correct because our clothing was just ruffled in the wind. The ice, on the other hand, was shattered and flung to the walls of the basement, some shards imbedding themselves in the walls.

I sink to my knees, condensing takes a lot out of a girl it seems. My shoulder is still throbbing, it's already healed so it's just phantom pains, I sit and look up at Mitsuru.

"You know, until I met you people I never had this much trouble with blood on my clothes, I still need to replace my pyjama's now that I think of it…" I rub my stomach where I was slashed, the silk did little to stop the Shadow.

Mitsuru merely raises an eyebrow, I sigh and continue talking. "Alright, that's enough for tonight, now, for your homework… try to remember the sensation of channelling, maybe try a little on your own. Start small, try making an ice cube or something similarly small. Now, it's late, I'm tired, and I'm still recovering from being stabbed with an icicle. I'm going to bed!" I rise to my feet shakily and head for the stairs.

"R-Relis? Thank-you for teaching me…" I look back and Mitsuru has a slight blush on her cheeks and is looking at her feet.

"It's no trouble Mitsuru, this may end up saving me one day as well. Just remember our deal, g'night!.

I get to my room and change into my ripped, bloody pyjama's just as the Dark Hour starts, however I'm too tired to deal with this right now, I'm going to sleep.

(4/14 Tuesday AFTERNOON)

Mr. Ono is weird! Seriously who is _that_ into Samurai? I know they're cool and all but still! Bah, time for lunch.

Exiting the classroom I see Fuuka leave from the next room over, I start walking over to her, just to have my path blocked by the Ganguro duo, as well as some brunette I hadn't seen before, guess they brought backup. They start backing Fuuka into a corner.

"Hey, Fuuka! I don't understand the Math stuff we got today, or the History from yesterday, do it for us, okay?" Do these girls not learn? I can still see the black eye I gave her under her fake tan!

Before Fuuka can take the papers from the three of them I tap the leader's shoulder, the one with the black eye.

"ahem, I believe we had a…_conversation_ regarding this kind of behaviour yesterday, didn't we?"

The three turn around at the sound of my voice, the new girl doesn't recognize me, guess they didn't tell her, the ganguro sidekick recognizes me though! She backs up a step, her eyes gone wide with fear, ooh that feels good. But, being as short as I am the Leader doesn't see me at first.

"Who do you think you are, bitch? Mind your own busin-" THEN she sees me.

I give her a wolfish grin. "I'm the bitch who kicked your ass, I'll happily do it again if my lesson hasn't made it into your thick skull yet though…" Her mouth hangs open and she would have blanched if she wasn't under fifty pounds of makeup.

"Hah! Who's the short bitch? Seems like she needs to be taught a lesson." Heh, new girl, you have _no_ idea…

Ignoring her for now I call out to Fuuka. "Hey, Fuuka-san! Want to eat with me? I made some extra by accident." I wave my lunchbox, no…it's called a bento here right? Trying to tempt her.

"Bitch, don't ignore me!" New girl then proceeds to raise my ire by slapping my…bento out of my hand.

Eye twitch "One! Learn a new insult! Two! I was going to let you off seeing as those two haven't told you about me. Three! If my grilled cheese sandwiches are ruined it's coming out of your hide! Do you know how hard it is to find the right kind of cheese in Japan for this?"

I kneel down and unwrap my bento, opening it I see that they are still in their original shape, sighing with happiness I cover and wrap the bento back up, picking it up and standing I look past New Girl to Fuuka.

"Shall we? How 'bout the roof? I hear that the view is great from up there!" As Fuuka nods I glare at the Ganguro duo, they obediently back up and allow Fuuka to join me, this further enrages New Girl.

"The hell is wrong with you wusses? Look at her, she's barely five foot! She's got you pissin' your pants! Screw you, _I'll_ teach her a lesson then if you're to chicken shit."

She grabs my shoulder, my _left_ shoulder, to spin me around. See, healing takes away all the damage sure, but the area is still tender for a couple of days afterward. So, instead of punching her in the face I winced and left an opening for her to backhand my face. I was pissed.

Now the slap didn't hurt that much, hell backhands usually hurt the slapper more than the slappie. What I was pissed about was that the slap knocked my glasses off my face and onto the floor, where New Girl promptly stomped them.

With extreme calmness I talk to Fuuka. "Fuuka-san? Please take my bento and start heading to the roof…I _won't be long…_" Handing her the bento without looking at her I wait till I hear her footsteps a few feet away before looking at my…_victim_.

"Those, whore, were a gift from my Uncle, I was having a good day, I was going to eat lunch with a friend, hell I was going to let you go with a warning, but noooooo. You just had to push me, now be a good little slut and take your lumps." Glaring at her, staring into her eyes, I was gratified to see her pull back at the sight of my not-eyes, I was GLAD that she was scared, she should be.

"W-what can you do? You blind-eyed freak! H-hey guys…l-let's teach her a lesson…guys?" I look over and the Ganguro duo have proven that they _can_ think and are running in the opposite direction.

"Sorry poppet, no help for you…don't worry nothing I won't hurt anything permanently, hopefully anyway, always so hard to…_hold back_ with you squishy humans. But hey, look on the bright side, imagine the _fun_ that the coroner will have putting you back together if I accidentally kill you…hahahaHAHAHAHA!" Giving her my best maniacal laugh I close in on her, crowding her into the corner that Fuuka had been minutes before.

Blocking her clumsy swing with my cast I ram my fist into her gut, causing her to double over, using the opportunity presented I raise my leg till its above my head I drop it onto her lowered head, ramming her head into the ground with a brutal axe kick.

I bend down and feel her neck, she's alive, unconscious but alive. I turn to Fuuka and sigh.

"Hey…mind if we take this useless lump to the Nurse's Office before having lunch?" Seeing her staring at my eyes I sigh again "I'll try to explain my eyes as we eat as well, okay?" She nods and we each take an arm over our shoulder.

Turns out we didn't have to go all the way to the Nurse's Office, the Ganguro duo were coming up the stairs so I handed New Girl over and told them to take her to the Nurse.

"Well then, let's eat!" I pretty much drag Fuuka to the roof, luckily there's no one else up here right now so I won't have to whisper.

"Right, first food, I'm hungry, knocking bullies down a few pegs always makes me hungry." I unwrap my bento again and hand her a grilled cheese sandwich before taking one for myself. Fuuka looks at it like it might bite her or something.

"It's a grilled cheese sandwich, guess it's not that big here but it's fairly common back home, it's just toasted bread with melted cheese in the middle." Not really _just _that but I won't give her my Grilled Cheese is Great speech complete with pointers and all the little additional things that can be added…maybe later.

She takes an exploratory bite and her eyes light up in surprise. "Th-this is _really_ good! Did your parents make this for you? Oh wait, you're a transfer student…so the Dorm Mother then?"

"No, there's no Dorm Mother where I stay, I learned to cook when I was young so I could help out around the house, it's no biggie." I shrug and grab another sandwich.

"Wow…your mother must have been a great teacher then!" I wince at the mention of my mother, sure it's been ten years but it still hurts you know?

"N-no I taught myself…my mother…and father…died ten years ago in a…crash" Defaulting to the News story.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…" Fuuka starts stammering out apologies.

"It's alright…it happened a long time ago…I can…I can barely remember what they looked like, gah!" I slap myself on the cheek trying to banish that train of thought.

"I would have told you anyway, seeing as it has to do with my eyes, it happened during the crash. There was an explosion, lots of fire and metal flying around, apparently my face caught on fire, I probably would have died then if it wasn't for Minako-chan being there, she's the other transfer who started the same time as I did by the way, she put out the fire and I passed out. I woke up in the hospital, they said that my face would heal but that they couldn't save my eyes, that I'd be blind for life."

"S-so you're blind? But, you don't act like it!" I confused Fuuka, no surprises there, hell if I hadn't made up this lie years ago I would have been confused too!

"Nope, not blind, which confused and scared the hell out of the doctors and nurses attending me…sometimes I look into a mirror and remember what my eyes looked like, they were a lovely dark violet, I remember my…mother saying that they were the same shade as an eggplant. I think she always compared things to food…I'm pretty sure anyway, bah, no matter. That's the story of my eyes, they're unexplained."

"But what about your arm? What happened to it…?" Damn wanted to save this for another time…come on distraction!

"Hey, Lyn-chan! You up here?" Only one male person calls me that so far, thank you Junpei, my timely rescuer!

"Yea, I'm here Junpei, what's up?"

"I was looking all over for you! I wanted to ask you about this whole Dark Ho-" He then notices Fuuka.

Thinking quickly "Jeeze, Junpei if you needed help with a video game it could have waited till after school, ya know!"

"Huh? Video game? Oh! Well it's just that I'm stuck on this one boss and it would be embarrassing asking a girl for help if the guys were around…Whoa! Dude, what's with your eyes?" Sigh…this is going to be a long day…

After giving Junpei the short version, and finishing the rest of my sandwiches I say goodbye to Fuuka and head back to class, where _everyone_ stares at my eyes, I pretend not to notice.

At the end of the day I make sure to grab onto Yukari before she can leave. I whisper into her ear.

"Just go with it, I'm pretending to be partially blind to avoid punishment." One thing I've learned about bullies over the years, if they can't beat you physically they usually turn sobbing to an authority figure, usually the principal. "Oh, and I copy your notes at night at the dorm, okay?" She nods dumbly and we head for the entrance, just as the PA goes off.

-Lyn Relis, please report to the Principal's Office, Lyn Relis to the Principal's Office-

"Bugger, remember what I said okay? In case anyone asks."

I slowly make my way to the Principal's Office, when I get there I make sure that I walk into the half-open door, emitting an "Ow!" as it happens.

"Y-you called for me, sir?" Rubbing my head where the door hit it. With a quick glance around I see that New Girl and the Leader of the Ganguro duo were here as well, thought this might happen.

"Yes Relis, I did, take a seat." The Principal indicates the open seat to the left, sticking to my plan I head to the middle one, the one with New Girl in it.

Making a show of squinting my eyes I wait till I'm almost touching the seat before 'noticing' New Girl.

"Oh! Sorry, didn't know this seat was taken…" I sit in the open chair as New Girl glares at me.

"Right…I called you here today because Maki here" New Girl "and Natsuki' Ganguro Leader "Both claim that you are bullying them and have physically assaulted them, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"U-um sir, I can barely see due to an accident when I was six, my range of vision is very low, only a few feet in fact, I have to get a classmate to let me copy her notes at the end of the day…" I pick up my cast with my right hand, acting as if it pained me. "I-I missed a step a week before I came here, that's how this happened… I'm really clumsy, heh…" I try to make myself look smaller and younger, fidgetting in my seat, head downcast.

"Oh? Your file did say something about eye trouble…aren't you supposed to have special glasses?" Don't recall that particular bit, but I'll play along.

"Yes… they were broken at lunch…I was going to try to find my new friend, Fuuka-san, so we could eat together, she's easy to see, even for me. She has green hair you see. I saw her green blur being pushed into a corner by two brown blurs with blond hair and a blur with brown hair. They said something about homework when I asked if Fuuka-san wanted to eat with me, she said yes and we left together, that was when the brunette grabbed my left shoulder, spun me around and slapped my glasses off and stepped on them…"

I look over and both Maki and Natsuki are staring open-mouthed at my acting skills.

Maki is the first to collect herself. "D-don't listen to her! She's faking, she can see perfectly fine! Watch!"

I continue to look at her, with a confused look on my face, forcing myself not to react as she pulls back her hand to hit me.

SMACK "Maki!" Too late Principal, I start to rub my cheek, that probably hurt more because I let it happen.

I had mastered the art of crocodile tears by the age of eleven, crying after being slapped, again, in the face was no hardship. I start bawling my eyes out as Maki looks at me, realizing that she had just played right into my hand.

"Maki, how could you? She just said that she's blind!" No I didn't "You're probably just jealous because she's the new student. Don't worry, as they say; we all only get fifteen minutes in the sun! And we must always continue looking forward, without loosing sight of the past!" Damn forgot about him and his penchant for monologues that go nowhere.

"Maki, for assault and destruction of property you will be suspended for a week, Natsuki, Relis, you two can go home now, I want to have a word with Maki here in private."

I leave the office and start heading to the entrance again when Natsuki catches up to me.

"Wait! I'm not done with you! What the hell do you thi-" She stops mid-word, because I just grabbed her throat and lifted her, not much seeing as I'm so damn short.

"But you see Natsuki, I'm done with _you_, I catch you or Maki or that other Ganguro tramp harassing Yamagishi again…I'll let myself have some…_fun_." I let go and she drops to her knees, coughing. "Toodles!" I'm a bad, bad person, and love it!

****

**A/N Well that's another chapter down! Thank's to Lady of Blatant Sarcasm and NexarkXIII for being my newest reviewer persons, and additional thanks to kingdom lily for reviewing again, it seemed like the chapter was barely up for a half hour before your review came in, and it was the middle of the night here when it did! Hmm, what else… Oh! I got my very first flame courtesy of one 'Chemical Fire' don't worry, I will endeavour to, and I quote, "Learn me some!" As always thanks for my favoriters and story alerters as well!**


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